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Abstract:
We estimate the number of microarrays that is required in order to gain reliable results
from a common type of study: the pairwise comparison of different classes of samples.
We show that current knowledge allows for the construction of models that look realistic
with respect to searches for individual differentially expressed genes and derive prototypical
parameters from real data sets. Such models allow investigation of the dependence of the
required number of samples on the relevant parameters: the biological variability of the
samples within each class, the fold changes in expression that are desired to be detected, the
detection sensitivity of the microarrays, and the acceptable error rates of the results. We
supply experimentalists with general conclusions as well as a freely accessible Java applet
at www.scai.fhg.de/special/bio/howmanyarrays/ for fine tuning simulations to their particular
settings.
