Abstract:

There is an urgent demand for affordable, rapid and easy-to-use technology to simultaneously detect many different DNA targets within one reaction. Conventional multiplex PCR is an effective methodology to simultaneously amplify different DNA targets. However, its multiplicity is limited due to the intrinsic interference and competition among primer pairs within one tube. Here, we present an easy multiplex PCR microchip system, which can simultaneously detect 54 targets. The design of the microchip is quite simple. There is a microchannel connected with multiple underlying parallel microwells. And every microchannel has an inlet/outlet for loading PCRmix. The surface of the microchannel is hydrophobic and the inner surface of the microwell is hydrophilic, which enables us to load and separate the PCRmix into different microwells simultaneously. Different primer pairs and low melting agarose are pre-fixed in different microwells, and the microchip is assembled with top glass. The PCRmix is loaded into inlets and then mineral oil is sequentially pipetted into channels to push the PCRmix into all microwells and subsequently mineral oil fills the channels to avoid cross contaminations. After the PCRmix is loaded, it would be placed on a plat thermal cycler for PCR. During PCR, the low melting gel in the well is liquid and after PCR it would be solidified due to temperature changes. When PCR is completed, a nucleic acid dye is introduced into channels and then results are visualized by a home-made, potable UV detector. In our platform we successfully detected seven frequently used targets of genetically modified (GM) organisms. The results demonstrate that our platform has high flexibility and specificity. Due to the excellent performance of this technology, we believe that it can be applied to multiple nucleic acid detection fields including GM organisms.

Key words: multiplex PCR, microchip, hydrophobic and hydrophilic, low melting agarose, genetically modified organisms