ARRAY OF DNA- THE GENE CHIP

If we put together the total DNA in our body, it would stretch up to about twice
the diameter of the Solar System. One can only expect the humongous amounts
of diseases associated with the mutation of merely one base pair. What if I tell
you that each one of those diseases can be detected by a square chip of length
1.28 cm? A Gene chip, or more formally a “microarray” does exactly that.
Being not much larger than a postage stamp, each biochip or gene chip contains
at the least 400,000 cells when on a glass substrate, each cell holding DNA from a
different human gene. By microarray profiling, doctors can test the gene patterns
of patients and can easily diagnose them with highly specific diseases like cancer,
Tay Sachs, diabetes and Cystic fibrosis and also provide effective medication.
We would need to take a look at gene expression in microbiology in order to
understand the working of a DNA chip. The genetic code is held in the DNA. The
RNA, a movable copy of that code, moves outside to the cytoplasm to act as a
template guide for production of proteins at the ribosome. Thus, an active gene
produces a lot of its RNA product. Measuring RNA volume to look at gene
expression levels helps to differentiate between a normal cell and a malignant
cell. A malignant cell has different genes active and in different levels than the
normal cell. So, if someone wanted to work on stopping the malignant cells, they
would want to detect the genes that are active in the malignant line, but not the
normal line, and this is where Gene Chip comes in – they help find those genes!
On each chip, there are over 6.5 million squares called features. In each feature
there are millions of identical DNA probes on them. A probe is a 25 base pair
length piece of DNA that is attached to the chip. Now two complimentary DNA
probes are hybridized together by making bonds between the four base pairs:
Adenine with Thymine and Cytosine with Guanine. A sample of RNA each tagged
with Biotin is added to the feature. The RNA will hybridize to the probes in the
feature only if the probe and RNA pieces are complimentary. Each probe
represents a unique portion of a gene. When the RNA hooks up to a probe for a
gene, it is hooking up to a sequence that is identical to a portion of the gene that
produced it. To visualize these tiny features, fluorescent stain is washed over the
feature which sticks to wherever there is Biotin, i.e. the places where RNA is
found. Lasers are then used to detect the presence of the fluorescence, thus
indicating the RNA target – probe match.
Each feature is then scanned for its intensity. The black features represent no
intensity (no RNA combined with the probes in the feature). Dark blue color
indicates highest intensity i.e. more RNA combining with that feature which
basically means the gene was expressed at a higher level. White indicates
minimum intensity.

In actuality, there are three different Gene Chip formats – Gene Expression, DNA
Analysis, and Resequencing. These three arrays have a wide range of applications
in various parts of research, drug development studies, medical diagnosis and
prognosis, and the prescription of drugs or issuing personalized medicine.

- ANANYA ARYA
11: B
ROLL NUMBER: 05