Methods for Estimating and Mitigating Errors in Spotted, Dual-color DNA Microarrays

The conceptual simplicity of DNA microarray technology often belies the complex nature of the measurement errors inherent in the methodology. As the technology has developed, the importance of understanding the sources of uncertainty in the measurements and developing ways to control their influence on the conclusions drawn has become apparent. In this review, strategies for modeling measurement errors and minimizing their effect on the outcome of experiments using a variety of techniques are discussed in the context of spotted, dual-color microarrays. First, methods designed to reduce the influence of random variability through data filtering, replication, and experimental design are introduced. This is followed by a review of data analysis methods that partition the variance into random effects and one or more systematic effects, specifically two-sample significance testing and analysis of variance (ANOVA) methods. Finally, the current state of measurement error models for spotted microarrays and their role in variance stabilizing transformations are discussed.