DNA Microarrays: A Practical Approach. Mark Schena, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, 209 pp., $55.00, paperback. ISBN 0-19-963777-8. Microarray Biochip Technology. Mark Schena, ed. Natick, MA: Eaton Publishing, 2000, 298 pp., $45.95. ISBN 1-881299-37-6. DNA Arrays: Methods and Protocols. Jang B. Rampal, ed. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2001, 264 pp., $89.50. ISBN 0-89603-822-X.

摘要

Although all three texts address the topic of microarrays, each has a different focus. The first two are edited by Mark Schena, one of the pioneers in the field of DNA microarrays, whereas the last, and newest, text is edited by Jang Rampal of the Beckman Coulter microarray group. DNA Microarrays: A Practical Approach focuses on methods and procedures that would be used by someone just entering the field of DNA microarrays. It joins the well-known “Practical Approach Series” of publications familiar to many in biomedical sciences. By contrast, Microarray Biochip Technology discusses the technology behind the major instruments and procedures used for DNA microarray analysis and is from Eaton, the publisher of BioTechniques . Finally, DNA Arrays: Methods and Protocols is the most recent publication and joins a rapidly expanding series, “Methods in Molecular Biology”. Although this text contains both procedures and technology assessment, most chapters are not as extensive as those in the books edited by Schena. Although all three books offer insights into this rapidly expanding field, each provides the reader with a different perspective that would satisfy unique needs.Several workers who have made substantial advances in DNA microarrays contributed to this 10-chapter book. Its major theme is providing practical information (some in a recipe format) that illustrates how to perform DNA microarray analyses. The first chapter is an overview of selected techniques and recipes and is cowritten by the Editor and R.W. Davis, another pioneer in the use of microarrays. Chapter 2, authored by an early developer of confocal scanners, addresses issues with confocal laser fluorescence scanning of arrays prepared on glass slides.The next three chapters discuss less-recognized applications of microarrays, such as representational differential analysis, use of oligonucleotide arrays for detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms, and selection of antisense oligomers (the latter two …