Issue 5, 2016

Analysis of single nucleic acid molecules in micro- and nano-fluidics

Abstract

Nucleic acid analysis has enhanced our understanding of biological processes and disease progression, elucidated the association of genetic variants and disease, and led to the design and implementation of new treatment strategies. These diverse applications require analysis of a variety of characteristics of nucleic acid molecules: size or length, detection or quantification of specific sequences, mapping of the general sequence structure, full sequence identification, analysis of epigenetic modifications, and observation of interactions between nucleic acids and other biomolecules. Strategies that can detect rare or transient species, characterize population distributions, and analyze small sample volumes enable the collection of richer data from biosamples. Platforms that integrate micro- and nano-fluidic operations with high sensitivity single molecule detection facilitate manipulation and detection of individual nucleic acid molecules. In this review, we will highlight important milestones and recent advances in single molecule nucleic acid analysis in micro- and nano-fluidic platforms. We focus on assessment modalities for single nucleic acid molecules and highlight the role of micro- and nano-structures and fluidic manipulation. We will also briefly discuss future directions and the current limitations and obstacles impeding even faster progress toward these goals.

Graphical abstract: Analysis of single nucleic acid molecules in micro- and nano-fluidics

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
19 ⴽⵜⵓ 2015
Accepted
13 ⵉⵏⵏ 2016
First published
13 ⵉⵏⵏ 2016

Lab Chip, 2016,16, 790-811

Analysis of single nucleic acid molecules in micro- and nano-fluidics

S. M. Friedrich, H. C. Zec and T. Wang, Lab Chip, 2016, 16, 790 DOI: 10.1039/C5LC01294E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements