Invitrogen Corporation, a provider of essential life science technologies
for research, production and diagnostics, today announced the launch of the
first high-density microarray for the profiling of non-coding RNAs. The NCode™
Human and Mouse non-coding RNA microarrays consist of both non-coding RNA and
messenger RNA (mRNA) content on the same array. The arrays are designed by Invitrogen
and then manufactured by Agilent
Technologies Inc., a technology leader in communications, electronics, life
sciences and chemical analysis, using the company's proprietary SurePrint
technology.
Transcription, or the synthesis of RNA as directed by DNA, involves not only
mRNA corresponding to the genes that are translated into proteins, but also
tens of thousands of long non-protein-coding RNAs. These non-coding RNAs appear
to comprise a vast hidden layer of genetic programming implicated in development
and disease pathways in mammals.
"Non-coding RNA transcripts play a variety of roles in a cell, ranging
from simple housekeeping to complex regulatory functions, and evidence is mounting
that their expression is perturbed in many cancers," said John Mattick,
Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Queensland, Australia.
"Because their function remains largely unknown, these transcripts represent
a new frontier of molecular genetic, molecular biological, physiological and
cell biological research."
The NCode non-coding RNA microarrays contain sequences of RNA that do not code
for proteins along with sequences of RNA corresponding to mRNAs, which are translated
into proteins in a cell. The non-coding sequences were generated and subsequently
validated by Professor Mattick's team at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience,
and exclusively licensed by Invitrogen (view press release).
"When we talked to scientists about their interest in studying non-coding
RNA, many told us they wanted a microarray that consisted of both mRNA and non-coding
RNA content, which would help them elucidate the function of specific non-coding
RNAs in relation to known pathways of gene expression," said Amy Butler,
Vice President of Gene Expression Profiling for Invitrogen. "We answered
with an array-based solution, exclusive to Invitrogen, that has tens of thousands
of coding and non-coding sequences which could answer multiple scientific questions
with a single experiment."
Because the NCode non-coding RNA microarrays include thousands of individual
sequences, they must be spotted very densely on a glass slide. To meet this
density requirement, Invitrogen partnered with Agilent to use Agilent's
proprietary SurePrint technology to manufacture the NCode non-coding RNA microarrays.
Invitrogen will market and distribute the product.
"The precision and flexibility of Agilent's Sureprint technology
enables an unmatched level of performance and quality that is essential to conduct
array-based gene expression research," noted Yvonne Linney, Ph.D., Agilent
vice president and general manager, Genomics. "By selecting SurePrint
technology to manufacture this new array for research use, Invitrogen is ensuring
the consistent performance of the NCode non-coding microarrays."