Why do microarrays require a priori knowledge of the genome?

Question

Reading this paper they said this:

Contemporary microarrays emerged in the wake of genome sequencing
projects for one obvious reason: arrays require a priori knowledge of
the query genome

Why do you need a priori knowledge? Thanks.

pascal · Answer

If the query genome is unknown, a microarray cannot be made for a target species. Microarrays have DNA fragments of what you want to amplify on them. Those fragments must be known.
From nature:

DNA microarrays are microscope slides that are printed with thousands
of tiny spots in defined positions, with each spot containing a known
DNA sequence or gene.

From wikipedia:

Scientists use DNA microarrays to measure the expression levels of
large numbers of genes simultaneously or to genotype multiple regions
of a genome. Each DNA spot contains picomoles (${10^{−12}}$ moles) of a
specific DNA sequence, known as probes (or reporters or oligos). These
can be a short section of a gene or other DNA element that are used to
hybridize a cDNA or cRNA (also called anti-sense RNA) sample (called
target) under high-stringency conditions.

Why do microarrays require a priori knowledge of the genome?

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