Abstract
Microarrays are revolutionizing genetics by making it possible to genotype hundreds of thousands of DNA markers and to assess the expression (RNA transcripts) of all of the genes in the genome. Microarrays are slides the size of a postage stamp that contain millions of DNA sequences to which single-stranded DNA or RNA can hybridize. This miniaturization requires little DNA or RNA and makes the method fast and inexpensive; multiple assays of each target make the method highly accurate. DNA microarrays with hundreds of thousands of DNA markers have made it possible to conduct systematic scans of the entire genome to identify genetic associations with complex disorders or dimensions likely to be influenced by many genes of small effect size. RNA microarrays can provide snapshots of gene expression across all of the genes in the genome at any time in any tissue, which has far-reaching applications such as structural and functional ‘genetic neuroimaging’ and providing a biological basis for understanding environmental influence.
Highlights
The goal of behavioural genomics is to understand the developmental pathways between genes and behaviour, not just for a single gene and a single behaviour, but for the system that includes all genes and all behaviours (Plomin, DeFries, Craig & McGuffin, 2003)
SNP microarrays have made it possible to conduct genome-wide association scans for complex traits and common disorders whose genetic influence is likely to be due to many genes of small effect, called quantitative trait loci (QTLs) (Hirschhorn & Daly, 2005)
Because of the practical and scientific limitations of using post-mortem brain tissue, RNA microarrays will be much more widely applicable to human research if available tissue such as blood can be used for gene expression profiling
Summary
The goal of behavioural genomics is to understand the developmental pathways between genes and behaviour, not just for a single gene and a single behaviour, but for the system that includes all genes (the genome) and all behaviours (the behavioural phenome) (Plomin, DeFries, Craig & McGuffin, 2003). SNP microarrays have made it possible to conduct genome-wide association scans for complex traits and common disorders whose genetic influence is likely to be due to many genes of small effect, called quantitative trait loci (QTLs) (Hirschhorn & Daly, 2005).
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