DNA MICROARRAY TECHNOLOGIES MEETING 

Minerva Biotecnologica 2001 December;13(4):249-54

Copyright © 2002 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Yeast in the post-genomic era. Use of DNA microarrays to study stress response, response to drugs and alkylating agents in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

De Filippo C. ¹, Cavalieri D. ²

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy; ² Center for Genomic Research, Harvard University, Cambridge MA

The ­advent of pow­er­ful new DNA ­arrays tech­nol­o­gies has cat­a­pult­ed ­yeast Saccharomyces cerev­i­siae in a pio­neer­ing posi­tion in the ­post-genom­ic era. The prom­is­es of ­this new tech­nol­o­gy are to ­allow exploit­ing the com­plete ­genome ­sequence and under­stand­ing of the dynam­ic cas­cades of ­events ­that ­drive the biol­o­gy of the ­cell. ­This is to say ­that we ­will ­pass ­from the ­study of a spe­cif­ic ­gene to the obser­va­tion of the com­plex path­ways of ­gene expres­sion. The infor­ma­tion ­will ­allow unrav­el­ing the sig­nal­ing net­works, inte­grat­ing the func­tion of dif­fer­ent ­genes, pro­vid­ing ­insights in the big pic­ture ­that ­explains how gen­o­type con­nects to phe­no­type. In ­order to ­achieve ­this ­task, the experi­men­tal ­design is fun­da­men­tal. A sub-opti­mal experi­men­tal ­design caus­es addi­tion of con­fu­sion to a com­plex pro­cess. The ­work ­that is car­ried on the ­yeasts is of fun­da­men­tal impor­tance, not ­only for the under­stand­ing of the biol­o­gy of one of the ­most impor­tant mod­el organ­isms, but as it ­allows devel­op­ing new approach­es opti­miz­ing the experi­men­tal ­designs, teach­ing how to use and ­improve DNA ­micro-­arrays, how to ask ques­tions and under­stand the ­answers.