Dataset of DNA microarray probe for every gene in the genome of Escherichia coli K-12

Prior to the maturation of RNA-seq technology, DNA microarray is the go-to tool for understanding the genome-level gene expression pattern of particular organism. However, the probes used to fish out the mRNA are often designed by commercial companies, which although useful, could not tailor to the specific research needs of individual researchers in different fields. This work presents a dataset of DNA microarray probe for every gene in the genome of Escherichia coli K-12 designed by an in-house MATLAB software through automated algorithm. Each probe targets the front part of every gene, and the specificity check (TRUE / FALSE) reveals that not every probe is specific for each gene. This means that the probe could also fish out mRNA from other genes in the same genome. A count is provided for the number of genes that could be targeted for a given probe. Naturally, a higher count meant that the probe could target more genes, and is thus, not specific. Overall, this work represents an initial attempt to design a software for automatic design of probes for each gene in the genome of E. coli K-12. The result is a satisfactory list of probes useful for the tasks, but there are a number of genes that requires more refined strategies for developing more specific probes.