Development of an integrated automation system with a magnetic bead‐mediated nucleic acid purification device for genetic analysis and gene manipulation

Abstract

We have developed an integrated automation system for genetic analysis and gene manipulation. The system, SX-8G Plus, is equipped with an 8-nozzle dispensing unit, a thermal cycler, a cooled reagent reservoir, four tip storage racks, four microplate platforms, buffer reservoirs, an agarose gel electrophoresis unit, a power supply, a pump for exchanging electrophoresis buffer, and a CCD camera. Automation of nucleic acid extraction and purification, the most difficult step in automating genetic analysis and gene manipulation, was realized using magnetic beads with Magtration Technology, which we have previously developed for automating the handling of paramagnetic beads. Using this system, we could perform the automated separation and purification of DNA fragments by agarose gel electrophoresis starting from sample loading. The system would enable the automation of almost all procedures in genetic analysis and gene manipulation.

High effective adsorption of organic dyes on magnetic cellulose beads entrapping activated carbon

“…Magnetic nano-or micro-particles of iron oxides have been widely used in the fields of separations and adsorptions, particularly in ion exchange separations [17], enzymes [18] or other proteins, nucleic acids [19] and cell [20] separations, and dyes removal [21,22]. These magnetic nanoparticles embedded in porous polymer materials can expand adsorption capacity due to the improvement in the electrostatic interaction.…”

Preparation and properties of magnetic nano‐ and microsized particles for biological and environmental separations

“…The separation is commonly performed using functionalized magnetic supports [228], many of which are commercially available. The separation of a nucleic acid is always an integral part of a multistep identification procedure.…”

Multifunctional Device for Nucleic Acid Extraction Based on Magnetic Separation and Its Co-Working with Liquid Handling System for High Throughput Sample Preparation

“…[11][12][13] Moreover, owing to that there is less dedicated equipment requirement and the extraction product (e.g., DNA, RNA) can be directly used for the downstream experimental processes, magnetic separation is easily operated using automation, and more and more commercial systems based on this method have been developed for automated sample preparation. [14][15][16] Our group, in 2013, had presented a high-throughput SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) detection system to improve the efficiency in SNP genotyping. 17 Furthermore, a permanent magnet array was introduced into this system to act as the main executive supporter for magnetic nucleic acid separation.…”