New microarray products covering the human genome have been launched by MWG Biotech and Agilent Technologies, adding to the choice of products available to genomics researchers. Last week, Affymetrix started taking orders for its own version.
MWG claims its new MWG Human 40K Array comprises the most comprehensive gene content available to date for the human genome. It has 40,000 human genes distributed on just two microarray slides.
The A array consists of 20,000 genes with full functional characterisation and content referencing, while the 20,000 genes on the B Array are also well referenced against several US National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases. This makes it "the perfect tool for identifying new target genes and their functions," according to MWG.
More than 11,000 genes on the MWG Human 40K Array are classified by gene ontology - a system that describes genes in terms of their biologicalfunction - into discrete groups. MWG has created 21 gene ontology groups for its new product and will provide them in 384 well plate formats where users can select plates for particular research areas.
Meanwhile, Agilent has said that its whole human genome microarray has been shipped to customers for testing and evaluation, and should be commercially available by the end of the year.
It is based on the firm's new double-density format, which can accommodate 44,000 features on a single 1" x 3" glass-slide microarray. The new platform enables drug-discovery and disease researchers to perform whole-genome screening at a lower cost and with higher reproducibility.
"This is an important step toward our release of the first whole human-genome microarray product, which is expected to be available for order before the end of the year," said Barney Saunders, vice president and general manager of Agilent's BioResearch Solutions Unit.
He said that researchers want to have a one-sample, one-chip format with the increased sensitivity associated with 60-mer probes. "The cost savings and high-quality performance make this product a compelling alternative for scientists who make their own microarrays," he added.
Agilent maintains that one microarray is not only less expensive than two, but also requires fewer reagents and reduces instrumentation demands.