Development of a cDNA array for chicken gene expression analysis

Background: The application of microarray technology to functional genomic analysis in the chicken has been limited by the lack of arrays containing large numbers of genes. Results: We have produced cDNA arrays using chicken EST collections generated by BBSRC, University of Delaware and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. From a total of 363,838 chicken ESTs representing 24 different adult or embryonic tissues, a set of 11,447 non- redundant ESTs were selected and added to an existing collection of clones ( 4,162) from immune tissues and a chicken bursal cell line ( DT40). Quality control analysis indicates there are 13,007 useable features on the array, including 160 control spots. The array provides broad coverage of mRNAs expressed in many tissues; in addition, clones with expression unique to various tissues can be detected. Conclusions: A chicken multi- tissue cDNA microarray with 13,007 features is now available to academic researchers from http:// genomics@ fhcrc. org. Sequence information for all features on the array is in GenBank, and clones can be readily obtained. Targeted users include researchers in comparative and developmental biology, immunology, vaccine and agricultural technology. These arrays will be an important resource for the entire research community using the chicken as a model.