Question

Doesn't a microarray experiment tell us exactly the same thing as an RNA-Seq experiment?

A) Yes

B) Yes, but one technique doesn’t give us any indication regarding the amount of a given transcript

C) Yes, but one technique doesn’t tell us much about mRNA processing

D) No, they are completely different experiments

Answer 1

C) Yes, microarray technique tells the same thing as RNA sequence experiment except one (microarray) doesn't tell much about mRNA processing.

MICROARRAY	RNA SEQUENCING
Hybridization based technique where specific RNA sequences are identified	Sequencing based technique to detect RNA in the sample
Identification of only known transcripts	Identification of new/ novel transcripts
Low sensitivity to identify the low expressed genes	High sensitivity to identify even the low expressed genes
Cannot determine SNPs, exon splicing, isoforms	Can determine all SNPs, exon splicing, isoform
Has limited ability to distinguish allelic expression and discovering new genes	Can distinguish allelic expression and new genes
quantitative	quantitative