ac8b02330_si_004.mpg (2.69 MB)
Pressure-Modulated Selective Electrokinetic Trapping for Direct Enrichment, Purification, and Detection of Nucleic Acids in Human Serum
media
posted on 2018-08-29, 00:00 authored by Wei Ouyang, Zirui Li, Jongyoon HanMicro total-analysis
systems (μTAS) have been extensively
developed for the detection of nucleic acids (NAs) in resource-limited
settings in recent years, yet the sample-preparation steps that interface
real-world samples with on-chip analytics remain as the technical
bottleneck. We report pressure-modulated selective electrokinetic
trapping (PM-SET) for the direct enrichment, purification, and detection
of NAs in human serum in one step without involving tedious solid-phase
extraction, chemical amplification, and surface-hybridization-based
assays. Under appropriately modulated hydrostatic pressures, NAs in
human serum were selectively enriched in an electrokinetic concentrator
with the majority of background proteins removed, achieving an enrichment
factor of >4800 in 15 min. A sequence-specific NA was detected
simultaneously
during the enrichment process using a complementary morpholino (MO)
probe, realizing a limit of detection of 3 pM in 15 min. PM-SET greatly
reduces the cost, time, and complexity of sample preparation for NA
detection and could be easily interfaced with existing NA-detection
devices to achieve true sample-to-answer biomolecular analytics.