Use of Microarrays to Examine Gene Expression in Bovine Mammary Tissue

The advent of bovine specific microarrays has allowed the simultaneous examination of thousands of genes at once.  Various bovine microarray slides are available through academic sources but commercial sources are also available.  Considerations regarding the choice of microarray include genes and libraries represented, type of array (cDNA versus oligo), and replication of spots.  Among other factors to consider in the performance of bovine microarrays are variability associated between and within animals, need to amplify mRNA, how well biopsies reflect gene expression, the impact of biopsies on biological responses, and the experimental replication required.  Biopsies can be performed frequently without adverse effects on expected biological responses; however, one must understand that wound healing comes into play.  The appropriate comparisons using various designs must be made with the microarrays for proper biological interpretations. One of the last great hurdles before use of bovine microarrays is enhanced is creating more user-friendly statistical analysis of the data. Analysis requires substantial computing power to address comparisons with thousands of genes.