Background: Currently, comparative genomic hybridisation array (array CGH) is the method of choice for studying genome wide DNA copy number changes. To date, either amplified representations of bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs)/phage artificial chromosomes (PACs) or cDNAs have been spotted as probes. The production of BAC/PAC and cDNA arrays is time consuming and expensive.
Aim: To evaluate the use of spotted 60 mer oligonucleotides (oligos) for array CGH.
Methods: The hybridisation of tumour cell lines with known chromosomal aberrations on to either BAC or oligoarrrays that are mapped to the human genome.
Results: Oligo CGH was able to detect amplifications with high accuracy and greater spatial resolution than other currently used array CGH platforms. In addition, single copy number changes could be detected with a resolution comparable to conventional CGH.
Conclusions: Oligos are easy to handle and flexible, because they can be designed for any part of the genome without the need for laborious amplification procedures. The full genome array, containing around 30000 oligos of all genes in the human genome, will represent a big step forward in the analysis of chromosomal copy number changes. Finally, oligoarray CGH can easily be used for any organism with a fully sequenced genome.