DNA Microarray - History

History

Microarray technology evolved from Southern blotting, where fragmented DNA is attached to a substrate and then probed with a known DNA sequence. The first reported use of this approach was the analysis of 378 arrayed lysed bacterial colonies each harboring a different sequence which were assayed in multiple replicas for expression of the genes in multiple normal and tumor tissue. This was expanded to an analysis of more than 4000 human sequences with computer driven scanning and image processing for quantitative analysis of the sequences in human colonic tumors and normal tissue and then to comparison of colonic tissues at different genetic risk. The use of a collection of distinct DNAs in arrays for expression profiling was also described in 1987, and the arrayed DNAs were used to identify genes whose expression is modulated by interferon. These early gene arrays were made by spotting cDNAs onto filter paper with a pin-spotting device. The use of miniaturized microarrays for gene expression profiling was first reported in 1995, and a complete eukaryotic genome (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on a microarray was published in 1997.