NaphS2 Gene Expression During Anaerobic Degradation of Naphthalene. delta proteobacterium NaphS2

Degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) such as naphthalene by anaerobic microorganisms is poorly understood. Strain NaphS2, an anaerobic sulfate reducing marine delta-proteobacterium is capable of using naphthalene and the aromatic compound benzoate, as well as pyruvate, as an electron donors in the presence of sulfate. In order to identify genes involved in the naphthalene degradation pathway, we compared gene expression in NaphS2 during growth on benzoate vs. pyruvate, naphthalene vs. pyruvate, and naphthalene vs benzoate. Overall design: For each experimental set, aRNA from NaphS2 was labelled Cy5 (experiment) or Cy3(control) with three biological replicates hybridized in duplicate. In addition, because of the size of the predicted genome of NaphS2, ORFs were divided into two separate array designs, designated set1 and set2, such that set1 and set2 represent two separate array designs (probe sets) to be treated separately in statistical analysis.