APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ELECTRICAL DETECTION OF OLIGONUCLEOTIDES THROUGH PORE BLOCKADES

摘要

Systems and methods for specific nucleic acid (NA) sequence detection that do not rely on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for target sequence amplification and do not require any special reagents other than a complementary sequence capture probe conjugated to spherical beads.

主权项

1. An apparatus for sequence-specific nucleic acid detection in a sample, the apparatus comprising:
a first chamber; a second chamber; a membrane separating said first and second chambers, said membrane having a pore extending through the membrane between the first and second chambers; a first electrode disposed in the first chamber; and a second electrode disposed in the second chamber; wherein when a liquid is introduced into said first and second chambers, wherein when a source of direct electric current is connected to said electrodes with a negative polarity being connected to the first electrode, and wherein when a bead which is conjugated with one or more strands of capture probe nucleic acid that is complementary to a desired target sequence to be detected is subsequently introduced into the liquid in the first chamber, the presence of said target nucleic acid is indicated by a decrease in electric current between the electrodes in relation to electric current between the electrodes prior to introduction of the beads into the first chamber, said decrease in electric current resulting from movement of the bead and the bead causing blockage of the pore.