The next generation of microarray research: applications in evolutionary and ecological genomics

Microarray technology is one of the key developments in recent years that has propelled biological research into the post-genomic era. With the ability to assay thousands to millions of features at the same time, microarray technology has fundamentally changed how biological questions are addressed, from examining one or a few genes to a collection of genes or the whole genome. This technology has much to offer in the study of genome evolution. After a brief introduction on the technology itself, we then focus on the use of microarrays to examine genome dynamics, to uncover novel functional elements in genomes, to unravel the evolution of regulatory networks, to identify genes important for behavioral and phenotypic plasticity, and to determine microbial community diversity in environmental samples. Although there are still practical issues in using microarrays, they will be alleviated by rapid advances in array technology and analysis methods, the availability of many genome sequences of closely related species and flexibility in array design. It is anticipated that the application of microarray technology will continue to better our understanding of evolution and ecology through the examination of individuals, populations, closely related species or whole microbial communities.