Table 2 Advantages and disadvantages of different chemical targeting approaches

PCR

High sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility and uniformity

High cost, low throughput, and cannot be used for large regions or a very large number of genes

Circularisation

Low cost (if many samples), easy to use, high sensitivity and specificity

Uniformity and sensitivity depends on design of probes. Cannot be used for a very large number of genes

Hybrid capture

Medium cost, easy to use, high sensitivity and specificity. Can target large sections of DNA and large numbers of genes

Uniformity and sensitivity depends on design of probes. Array design may be rather inflexible