Microarray analysis of gene expression in medicinal plant research

Expression profiling analysis offers great opportunities for the identification of novel molecular targets, drug discovery, development, and validation. The beauty of microarray analysis of gene expression is that it can be used to screen the expression of tens of thousands of genes in parallel and to identify appropriate molecular targets for therapeutic intervention. Toward identifying novel therapeutic options, natural products, notably from medicinal plants used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), have been thoroughly investigated. Increased knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of TCM-derived drugs could be achieved through application of modern molecular technologies including transcript profiling. In the present review, we introduce a brief introduction to the field of microarray technology and disclose its role in target identification and validation. Moreover, we provide examples for applications regarding molecular target discovery in medicinal plants derived TCM. This could be an attractive strategy for the development of novel and improved therapeutics.