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Understanding the relationship between DNA sequence variation and phenotypic variation in complex or quantitative traits is one of the major challenges in modern biology. We are witnessing a deluge of DNA sequence information and association studies of genetic polymorphisms with phenotypes of interest in families and populations. In addition, it has become clear that large portions of eukaryotic genomes beyond protein-coding genes are transcribed, generating numerous noncoding RNA (ncRNA) molecules whose functions remain mostly unknown.DNA oligonucleotide microarrays constitute a powerful technology for studying the expression of genes in different organisms. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae tiling array presents a significant advance over previous array-based platforms. It has a high density of overlapping probes that start on average every 8 bp along each strand of the genome, enabling precise definition of transcript structure. Furthermore, the array includes probes specific for the polymorphic positions of another, distantly related yeast strain, allowing accurate measurement of allele-specific expression in a hybrid of the two strains. This technology thus allows high-resolution, quantitative, strand- and allele-specific measurements of transcription from a full eukaryotic genome. In this chapter, we describe the methods for extracting RNA, synthesizing first-strand cDNA, fragmenting, and labeling of samples for hybridization to the tiling array. Combining genome-wide information on variation in DNA sequence with variation in transcript structure and levels promises to increase our understanding of the genotype-to-phenotype relationship.

In the last decade, it became clear that transcription goes far beyond that of protein-coding genes. Most RNA molecules are transcribed from intergenic regions or introns and exhibit much variability in size, expression level, secondary structure, and evolutionary conservation. While for several types of non-coding RNAs some cellular functions have been reported, like for micro-RNAs and small nucleolar RNAs, for most others no indications of function or regulation have so far been found. Therefore, the RNA population inside a cell is diverse and cryptic and, thus, demands powerful methods to study its composition, abundance, and structure. DNA oligonucleotide microarrays have proven to be of great utility to study transcription of genes in various organisms. Recently, due to advancement in microarray technology, tiling microarrays that extend transcription measurement to genomic regions beyond protein-coding genes were designed for several species. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast tiling array contains overlapping probes across the full genomic sequence, with consecutive probes starting every 8 bp on average on each strand, enabling strand-specific measurement of transcription from a full eukaryotic genome. Here, we describe the methods used to extract yeast RNA, convert it into first-strand cDNA, fragment, and label it for hybridization to the tiling array. This protocol will enable researchers not only to study which genes are expressed and to what levels, but also to identify non-coding RNAs and to study the structure of transcripts including their untranslated regions, alternative start, stop, and processing sites. This information will allow understanding their roles inside cells.