• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1377-1383
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• 2005

In a cDNA microarray experiment using Cy3 and Cy5 as labeling agents, particularly for the direct design, cDNAs from some genes incorporate one dye more efficiently than the other, which is referred to as the gene-specific dye bias. Dye-swaps, in which two dyes are switched on replicate arrays, are commonly used to control the gene-specific dye bias. We developed a simple procedure to extract the gene-specific dye bias information from a partial dye swap experiment. We detected gene-specific dye bias by identifying outliers in an X-Y plane, where the X axis represents the average log-ratio from two sets of dye swap pairs and the Y axis exhibits the average log ratio of four forward labeled arrays. We used this information for detecting differentially expressed genes, of which the additionally detected genes were validated by real-time RT-PCR.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.113-117
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• 2007

The development of microarray technology has facilitated the understanding of gene expression profiles. Despite its convenience, the cause of dye-bias that confounds data interpretation in dual-color DNA microarray experiments is not well known. In order to economize time and money, it is necessary to identify the cause of dye bias, since designing dye-swaps to reduce the dye-specific bias tends to be very expensive. Hence, we sought to determine the reliable cause of systematic dye bias after treating murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells with 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate (KDO), interferon-beta $(IFN-{\beta})$, and 8-bromoadenosine (8-BR). To find the cause of systematic dye bias from the point of view of fluorescence quenching, we examined the correlation between systematic dye bias and the proportion of each nucleotide in mRNA and oligonucleotide probe sequence. Cy3-dye bias was highly correlated with the proportion of adenines. Our results support the fact that systematic dye bias is affected by fluorescence quenching of each feature. In addition, we also found that the strength of fluorescence quenching is based on not only dye-dye interactions but also dye-nucleotide interactions as well.