State Key Laboratory of Applied Optics, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130033, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing 100049, China.
Biosensors (Basel). 2020 May 8;10(5):49. doi: 10.3390/bios10050049.
The traditional qPCR instrument is bulky, expensive, and inconvenient to carry, so we report a portable rotary real-time fluorescent PCR (polymerase chain reaction) that completes the PCR amplification of DNA in the field, and the reaction can be observed in real-time. Through the analysis of a target gene, namely pGEM-3Zf (+), the gradient amplification and melting curves are compared to commercial devices. The results confirm the stability of our device. This is the first use of a mechanical rotary structure to achieve gradient amplification curves and melting curves comparable to commercial instruments. The average power consumption of our system is about 7.6 W, which is the lowest energy consumption for real-time fluorescence quantification in shunting PCR and enables the use of our device in the field thanks to its self-contained power supply based on a lithium battery. In addition, all of the equipment costs only about 710 dollars, which is far lower than the cost of a commercial PCR instrument because the control system through mechanical displacement replaces the traditional TEC (thermoelectric cooler) temperature control. Moreover, the equipment has a low technical barrier, which can suit the needs of non-professional settings, with strong repeatability.
传统的 qPCR 仪器体积庞大、价格昂贵且携带不便，因此我们报告了一种便携式旋转实时荧光 PCR（聚合酶链式反应），它可以在现场完成 DNA 的 PCR 扩增，并且可以实时观察反应过程。通过对一个靶基因 pGEM-3Zf(+) 的分析，比较了梯度扩增和熔解曲线与商业设备的结果。结果证实了我们设备的稳定性。这是首次使用机械旋转结构实现与商业仪器相当的梯度扩增曲线和熔解曲线。我们系统的平均功耗约为 7.6 W，这是分流 PCR 中实时荧光定量的最低能耗，由于其基于锂电池的自备电源，使我们的设备能够在现场使用。此外，所有设备的成本仅约为 710 美元，远低于商业 PCR 仪器的成本，因为通过机械位移的控制系统取代了传统的 TEC（热电冷却器）温度控制。此外，该设备技术壁垒低，可以满足非专业设置的需求，具有很强的可重复性。
