Comparing two transcriptome technologies - sequencing match microarrays [Array]. Streptococcus thermophilus

Next-generation sequencing has emerged as a promising platform for whole genome transcriptome profiling. The microarray technology has in contrast a long track record, but may suffer from issues related to background fluorescence and non-specific hybridization. The two technologies have been compared for eukaryotic transcriptomes in various studies. However, for prokaryotes information on comparative performance of the two technologies is sparse. We thus compared the two technologies for Streptococcus thermophilus. With just single experiments there was a strong correlation between the technologies. Overall design: We compared our in house spotted DNA microarray platform with the same RNA samples sequenced externally. The aim was to, without replicate arrays or sequencing, to determine if the two technologies correlate well.