DNA microarray technologies for measuring protein–DNA interactions

DNA-binding proteins have key roles in many cellular processes, including transcriptional regulation and replication. Microarray-based technologies permit the high-throughput identification of binding sites and enable the functional roles of these binding proteins to be elucidated. In particular, microarray readout either of chromatin immunoprecipitated DNA-bound proteins (ChIP-chip) or of DNA adenine methyltransferase fusion proteins (DamID) enables the identification of in vivo genomic target sites of proteins. A complementary approach to analyse the in vitro binding of proteins directly to double-stranded DNA microarrays (protein binding microarrays; PBMs), permits rapid characterization of their DNA binding site sequence specificities. Recent advances in DNA microarray synthesis technologies have facilitated the definition of DNA-binding sites at much higher resolution and coverage, and advances in these and emerging technologies will further increase the efficiencies of these exciting new approaches.