A Strategy for Identifying Noncoding RNAs Using Whole-Genome Tiling Arrays

Whole-genome tiling arrays are powerful tools for detecting and characterizing novel RNA transcripts. Here, we describe a complete method combining elements of molecular and computational biology to identify small noncoding RNA (sRNA) transcripts. We focus on the key features of this approach, which include size-fractionation of input RNA, direct detection of array hybridization with antibodies that recognize RNA:DNA hybrids, and correlation-based computational methods for automated sRNA identification and boundary determination.