Abstract
Aptamers are sequences of single-strand oligonucleotides (DNA or RNA) with potential binding capability to specific target molecules, which are increasingly used as agents for analysis, diagnosis, and medical treatment. Aptamers are generated by a selection method named systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). Numerous SELEX methods have been developed for aptamer selections. However, the conventional SELEX methods still suffer from high labor intensity, low operation efficiency, and low success rate. Thus, the applications of aptamer with desired properties are limited. With their advantages of low cost, high speed, and upgraded extent of automation, microfluidic technologies have become promising tools for rapid and high throughput aptamer selection. This paper reviews current progresses of such microfluidic systems for aptamer selection. Comparisons of selection performances with discussions on principles, structure, operations, as well as advantages and limitations of various microfluidic-based aptamer selection methods are provided.
Highlights
An aptamer is a sequence of single-strand oligonucleotide (DNA or RNA) with a variable region of about tens of nucleotide bases
The application of microfluidic technologies offers the advantages of high speed, low cost, and labor-saving, which can contribute strongly to the development of aptamer selection; with the utilization of hydrodynamic, electric, magnetic, and acoustic force fields, they can provide superior performance compared with traditional large-scale laboratory apparatus
There have been some nice progresses in the techniques for microfluidic incubation, separation, and amplification, which showed encouraging promise to improve the efficiency of systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX)
Summary
An aptamer is a sequence of single-strand oligonucleotide (DNA or RNA) with a variable region of about tens of nucleotide bases. Magnetism-Controlled Microarray-Based Selection In addition to directly immobilizing the protein targets onto a chip surface, Zhi-Ling Zhang’s group took advantage of magnetic nanospheres (MNs) patterned chips to develop a screening platform with multiple functions (Hong et al, 2017). Applying contactless external driving forces and hydrodynamic forces to microfluidic systems can provide better ways to enhance the efficiency of aptamer selection through tailored fluid manipulation, incubation, and partition process control.
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