Diagnostic devices for isothermal nucleic acid amplification

Abstract

Since the development of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, genomic information has been retrievable from lesser amounts of DNA than previously possible. PCR-based amplifications require high-precision instruments to perform temperature cycling reactions; further, they are cumbersome for routine clinical use. However, the use of isothermal approaches can eliminate many complications associated with thermocycling. The application of diagnostic devices for isothermal DNA amplification has recently been studied extensively. In this paper, we describe the basic concepts of several isothermal amplification approaches and review recent progress in diagnostic device development.

Keywords: HDA; LAMP; NASBA; RCA; SDA; isothermal nucleic acid amplification.

Figure 1.

Schematic representation of the NASBA amplification.

Figure 2.

Schematic representation of the SDA reaction.

Figure 3.

(A) Schematic illustration of the principal steps of RCA. (B) System design for on-chip RCA integrated platform (reprinted with permission from [60]. Copyright 2008 American Chemical Society.)

Figure 4.

Schematic illustration of the principal steps of LAMP.

Figure 5.

(A) Schematic diagram of an integrated LAMP turbidimetry device. (Reprinted with permission from [68]. Copyright 2007 Elsevier B.V.) (B) Schematic diagram of an SPR-based LAMP sensing cartridge and system (reprinted with permission from [74]. Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V.).

Figure 6.

(A) Schematic illustration of the principal steps of HDA; (B) System design for an on-chip RCA integrated platform (reprinted with permission from [82]. Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V.).