What are the advantages of the SILAC assay vs other techniques?

One is that you can look at differences in post translational modifications in two different states.

Another is that you can fractionate into different organelles.

When quantifying differential gene expression in cells in control and test conditions, what are the benefits versus a technique like microarrays?

Hi Fraser,


All of your points are well made. Additional advantages to using SILAC vs. an array approach, is that with an array you are limited to the array content; generally array experiments are done with either pure fluorescently tagged proteins, or in combination with fluorescent antibodies . Whereas SILAC labels the entire proteome. SILAC labeling is also performed on live cells allowing one to couple activity assays to expression profiling.