Today's Nature Technology Feature: The digital generation:

NATURE|Vol 458|12 March 2009
Next-generation sequencing is pushing gene-expression profiling further into the digital age. But analog methods still have plenty of wind left. Nathan Blow looks at the looming battle over the cell’s transcriptome.

一场没有硝烟的战争？蜃景中的交锋？It's my time.

Products:
SOLiD™ System Sequencing Whole Transcriptome Analysis
Illumina Genome Analyzer Applications Transcriptome Analysis
1.mRNA-seq
2.tag profiling
3.small RNA discovery and analysis
Roche 454 Life Science SAGE based expression profiling on GS FLX system

“For digital gene expression you are just counting the number of times you hit a gene and then assuming that that represents the number of copies of the transcript that you have in your population,” says Chad Nusbaum.

In addition to looking at RNA expression patterns, RNA-seq can allow researchers to discover new classes of RNA, detect point mutations in expressed transcripts, identify fusion transcripts or uncover new alternative splicing events.

Comments：Is this so called "point mutations in expressed transcripts" SNPs？

For this reason a number of researchers expect microarrays to migrate towards more targeted applications in the future, perhaps associated with biomarker validation or other diagnostic applications.

Direction of microarray.