Extracting Biological Meaning from Large Gene Lists with DAVID

Abstract

High-throughput genomics screening studies, such as microarray, proteomics, etc., often result in large, "interesting" gene lists, ranging in size from hundreds to thousands of genes. Given the challenges of functionally interpreting such large gene lists, it is necessary to incorporate bioinformatics tools in the analysis. DAVID is a Web-based application that provides a high-throughput and integrative gene functional annotation environment to systematically extract biological themes behind large gene lists. High-throughput gene functional analysis with DAVID will provide important insights that allow investigators to understand the biological themes within their given genomic study. This unit will describe step-by-step procedures to use DAVID tools, as well as a brief rationale and key parameters in the DAVID analysis.