This column shows the ratio of expression of each gene in a particular phase of the worm life cycle to the expression of the gene in mixed wild-type N2 cultures. These experiments were replicated several times. This track shows just a representative replication.
A gene that is more highly expressed in a life cycle phase is colored red, and a less expressed gene is shown in green. The values are colored on a logarithmic scale. This coloring is standard, but is the opposite of what an inexperienced user might expect: in this case, red means go and green means stop! Black indicates that a gene is neither over- nor under-expressed in a life cycle phase. Uncolored boxes (white on most browsers) represent missing data.
To associate particular genes with expression data we use a fairly simple-minded scheme. First we align the cDNA sequences around which the probes were designed to the genome. Then for each gene we pick the cDNA sequence with the alignment that most overlaps the gene as the source for expression data for that gene. Since many of the cDNA sequences and probes designed for the cDNA sequences just cover part of the gene, in most cases different splice varients of a gene will end up mapped to the same cDNA sequence.