Applications of DNA microarrays in microbial systems

DNA microarray technology allows a parallel analysis of RNA abundance and DNA homology for thousands of genes in a single experiment. Over the past few years, this powerful technology has been used to explore transcriptional profiles and genome differences for a variety of microorganisms. greatly facilitating our understanding of microbial metabolism. With the increasing availability of complete microbial genomes. DNA microarrays are becoming a common tool in many areas of microbial research, including microbial physiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, ecology, phylogeny, pathway engineering and fermentation optimization. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.