Isothermal Amplification Methods for the Detection of Nucleic Acids in Microfluidic Devices
1
Istituto Biostrutture e Bioimmagini, CNR, Viale A. Doria 6, Catania, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Catania, Viale Andrea Doria 6, I-95125 Catania, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biosensors 2013, 3(1), 18-43; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios3010018
Received: 7 November 2012
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Revised: 7 December 2012
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Accepted: 24 December 2012
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Published: 27 December 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Electronic Bio-Devices)
Diagnostic tools for biomolecular detection need to fulfill specific requirements in terms of sensitivity, selectivity and high-throughput in order to widen their applicability and to minimize the cost of the assay. The nucleic acid amplification is a key step in DNA detection assays. It contributes to improving the assay sensitivity by enabling the detection of a limited number of target molecules. The use of microfluidic devices to miniaturize amplification protocols reduces the required sample volume and the analysis times and offers new possibilities for the process automation and integration in one single device. The vast majority of miniaturized systems for nucleic acid analysis exploit the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification method, which requires repeated cycles of three or two temperature-dependent steps during the amplification of the nucleic acid target sequence. In contrast, low temperature isothermal amplification methods have no need for thermal cycling thus requiring simplified microfluidic device features. Here, the use of miniaturized analysis systems using isothermal amplification reactions for the nucleic acid amplification will be discussed.
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Keywords:
microfluidics; isothermal amplification methods; miniaturization; DNA
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MDPI and ACS Style
Zanoli, L.M.; Spoto, G. Isothermal Amplification Methods for the Detection of Nucleic Acids in Microfluidic Devices. Biosensors 2013, 3, 18-43. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios3010018
AMA Style
Zanoli LM, Spoto G. Isothermal Amplification Methods for the Detection of Nucleic Acids in Microfluidic Devices. Biosensors. 2013; 3(1):18-43. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios3010018
Chicago/Turabian StyleZanoli, Laura M., and Giuseppe Spoto. 2013. "Isothermal Amplification Methods for the Detection of Nucleic Acids in Microfluidic Devices" Biosensors 3, no. 1: 18-43. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios3010018
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