Serum Starvation/Refeeding RNA vs. RAP

Low abundance mRNAs are more difficult to examine using microarrays than high abundance mRNAs due to the effect of concentration on hybridization kinetics, signal-to-noise ratios, and interference between signals from mRNA isoforms. Individual sequences in LCRs are more highly represented than in the mRNA population from which they are derived, leading to favorable hybridization kinetics. LCR targets permit the measurement of abundance changes that are difficult to measure using oligo dT priming for target synthesis. An oligo dT-primed target and three LCRs detect twice as many differentially regulated genes as could be detected by the oligo dT-primed target alone, as serum-starved fibroblasts responded to the reintroduction of serum. Thus, this target preparation strategy considerably increases the sensitivity of spotted cDNA microarrays. Keywords: parallel sample