液滴微流控系统在数字聚合酶链式反应中的应用研究进展

数字聚合酶链式反应( PCR)技术近年来发展迅速。与以实时荧光定量PCR为代表的传统PCR技术相比，数字PCR技术显著提高了定量分析的精确度和灵敏度。数字PCR的快速发展与近年来微流控技术在数字PCR技术中的广泛应用有着密切的联系。早期的研究和商业化产品使用的是大规模集成流路微流控芯片，加工过程复杂且价格高昂。近年来，液滴微流控芯片被应用到数字PCR技术中，它可以在短时间内产生102~107个微液滴，每一个微液滴都是最多只含有一个目的基因片段的PCR反应器。 PCR扩增后，通过对单个微液滴的观察计数，就可以获得绝对定量的分析数据。本文综述了不同种类的液滴微流控系统在数字PCR技术中的应用，以及液滴数字PCR微流控芯片在生物、医药、环境等领域的应用。

Recent Development of Droplet Microfluidics in Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction

Digital polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) has been experiencing a rapid development during the past few years. Comparing with the traditional real-time quantitative PCR ( RT-qPCR) , using the same primer and probe, the accuracy for the absolute quantification of target gene is significantly improved. The development of digital PCR is directly related to the development of microfluidics. The integrated fluid circuit is an early combination of the microfluidics and digital PCR, which has a complicated fabrication process with high cost. Recently, researchers are trying to apply the droplet microfluidics in digital PCR, and the droplet microfluidic chip is able to generate millions of droplets within a short time. Each of these droplets containing no more than one target gene is a reaction chamber during the amplification process. After amplification, each droplet is tested to achieve the absolute quantification of the target gene. This paper reviews the recent progresses of droplet digital PCR, and the applications of droplet digital PCR in biological, medical and environmental fields.