Microarray-based DNA decoding

A DNA microarray is a device for high-throughput investigations widely used in molecular biology and in medicine. It consists of an arrayed series of microscopic spots (‘features’ or ‘locations’) containing few picomoles of oligonucleotidescarrying a specific DNA sequence. This can be a short section of a gene or other DNA element that are used as probes tohybridize a DNA or RNA sample under suitable conditions. Probe-target hybridization is usually detected and quantified byfluorescence-based detection of fluorophore-labeled targets to determine relative abundance of the target nucleic acidsequences. Microarray has been used for the successfully decoding of ESAC DNA-encoded libraries. The codingoligonucleotides representing the individual chemical compounds in the library, are spotted and chemically linked onto themicroarray slides, using a BioChip Arrayer robot. Subsequently, the oligonucleotide tags of the binding compounds isolated from the selection are PCR amplified using a fluorescent primer and hybridized onto the DNA-microarray slide. Afterwards,microarrays are analyzed using a laser scan and spot intensities detected and quantified. The enrichment of the preferential binding compounds is revealed comparing the spots intensity of the DNA-microarray slide before and after selection.