Nucleic acid microarrays have recently become one of the basic techniques in the study of gene expression.
Owing to progress in the field of miniaturization, thousands of oligonucleotides differing in terms of their sequences
can be systematically placed on a small area of a solid support (usually glass). These probes are capable of
simultaneously interacting with a large number of longer nucleic acids from particular genes. Nucleic acid microarray
construction technology consists, primarily, of the appropriate functionalization of a glass surface with the
use of organofunctional silanes. Oligonucleotides known as probes are attached to a functionalized surface using,
for instance, the lithography technique and, after being linked to the surface, they are subjected to hybridization
with complementary and labelled fragments of nucleic acids known as samples of unknown sequences. In this
paper, we present a method for constructing DNA microarrays that is based on the use of microscopic slides modified
with epoxy functional group-containing silanes. This study was aimed at optimizing the production of DNA
microarrays. The study tested the usefulness of four different epoxy functional silanes with one or three alkoxy
groups. In addition, slides were silanized with the use of alkylsilane. The glass slides were characterized using
a goniometer and an atomic force microscope (AFM). The synthesized amino linker-containing oligonucleotide
probes were printed onto the glass slides in order to check the effectiveness of their attachment to the solid
surface.