You're here: My Science Blogging » Discovery » Article: Mini DNA Replicator
Yessi Pratiwi — July 27, 2007 / 2:30 pm
In the US, a pocket-sized device that runs on two AA batteries and copies DNA as accurately as expensive lab equipment has been developed by researchers. It runs polymerase chain reactions (PCRs), to generate billions of identical copies of a DNA strand, in as little as 20 minutes. This is much faster than the machines currently in use, which take several hours.
Running a PCR requires treating DNA strands, along with chemical materials needed to make new DNA strands, at three different temperatures. The highest temperature (95°C) causes two strands of a DNA molecule to separate. The lowest temperature (60°C) makes DNA building blocks stick together. Then, holding the temperature in the middle (72°C), allows an enzyme to quickly assemble replica DNA strands.
In the new device, created by graduate student Nitin Agrawal, a centimetre-wide loop of tubing wraps in a vertical ring around a set of three metal rods. The rods, together the size of an AA battery, are kept at three different temperatures. With this set-up, the parts of the tube closest to each block are heated differently. As the fluid is heated, it becomes less dense and more buoyant, so it flows upward. When the fluid cools in another part of the loop, it becomes denser and moves down. And because the device only heats the three small blocks of metal, it also runs off just two AA batteries.
Journal reference: Angewandte Chemie International Edition (DOI: 10.1002/anie.200700306)
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