Weighing our measures of gene expression

Abstract

Mol Syst Biol. 2: 63 On a hot day in almost any city in the world, if you ask someone what the temperature is, you might not be surprised to hear them answer ‘35’. We all know what this means—the temperature is 35°C and the report is a product of the environment and the instrument we use to measure its properties. If, however, you were to ask the same question on an equally hot day in a city in the United States, where we stridently avoid SI units in our every day lives, the answer you would receive is ‘95’ (degrees Fahrenheit for those of you who are not familiar with our antiquated system of measurement). Same level of heat, same average molecular kinetic energy, but a different answer to the same question. Does that mean we should abandon measurement of temperature? No. What it means is that we have to understand how the measurements are made and how to relate them to each other. The thermometers being used are not at fault, they are just measuring the same thing in slightly different ways. It is the type of problem we as scientists deal with all the time. Which is why I am so perplexed by the way in which DNA microarrays have been singled out as being …