Nucleic acid purification through nanoarchitectonics: magnetic bead integration with microfluidic chip technology

Abstract

Purified DNA and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) are crucial parts of molecular biology techniques in various fields such as genomics, forensics, and diagnostics. The proposed microfluidic device is used to perform several steps like the adsorption of DNA present in processed PCR onto bare magnetic beads, cleaning of contaminants with ethanol-diluted buffer reagent, and eluting the adsorbed DNA in an elution buffer, which is further used for downstream application. The entire sample purification is accomplished in about 25 minutes. A comparative analysis is conducted using a commercially available DNA purification kit. By employing the suggested microfluidic chip alongside the commercial kit, a commercial spectrophotometer is utilized to measure the purity. This is done by obtaining the A260/A280 ratio, which allows for the assessment of both the quantity and purity of the extracted DNA. The A260/A280 ratios for the spin column-based, magnetic stand-based, and microfluidic chip-based tests were 1.86, 1.98, and 1.74, respectively. The analysis of the eluted DNA findings indicated that the quality was suitable for future PCR amplification. Additionally, this microchip-based device has the potential to be utilized as a bedside device for DNA purification in point of care applications, with a purification time of 25 minutes.