Genomic DNA Extraction from Cells by Electroporation on an Integrated Microfluidic Platform

Abstract

The vast majority of genetic analysis of cells involves chemical lysis for release of DNA molecules. However, chemical reagents required in the lysis interfere with downstream molecular biology and often require removal after the step. Electrical lysis based on irreversible electroporation is a promising technique to prepare samples for genetic analysis due to its purely physical nature, fast speed, and simple operation. However, there has been no experimental confirmation on whether electrical lysis extracts genomic DNA from cells in a reproducible and efficient fashion in comparison to chemical lysis, especially for eukaryotic cells that have most of the DNA enclosed in the nucleus. In this work, we construct an integrated microfluidic chip that physically traps a low number of cells, lyses the cells using electrical pulses rapidly, then purifies and concentrates genomic DNA. We demonstrate that electrical lysis offers high efficiency for DNA extraction from both eukaryotic cells (up to ∼36% for Chinese hamster ovary cells) and bacterial cells (up to ∼45% for Salmonella typhimurium) that is comparable to the widely used chemical lysis. The DNA extraction efficiency has dependence on both the electric parameters and relative amount of beads used for DNA adsorption. We envision that electroporation-based DNA extraction will find use in ultrasensitive assays that benefit from minimal dilution and simple procedures.