Radial capillary array electrophoresis microplate and scanner for high-performance nucleic acid analysis

The design, fabrication, and operation of a radial capillary array electrop horesis microplate and scanner for high-throughput DNA analysis is presente d. The microplate consists of a central common anode reservoir coupled to 9 6 separate microfabricated separation channels connected to sample injector s on the perimeter of the 10cm-diameter wafer. Detection is accomplished by a laser-excited rotary confocal scanner with four color detection channels . Loading of 96 samples in parallel is achieved using a pressurized capilla ry array system. High-quality separations of 96 pBR322 restriction digest s amples are achieved in <120 s with the microplate system. The practical uti lity and multicolor detection capability is demonstrated by analyzing 96 me thylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) alleles in parallel using a nonco valent 2-color staining method. This work establishes the feasibility of pe rforming high-throughput genotyping separations with capillary array electr ophoresis microplates.