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Separation of DNA Using Ferrofluid Array Electrophoresis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

Pascal Mayer,
Jerôme Bibette and
J. L. Viovy
Pascal Mayer
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, Av. A. Schweitzer, 33600 PESSACPresent address: GLAXO WELLCOME Research, 14 Ch des Aulx, CP 674, 1228 Plan-les-ouates, GENEVE, SUISSE
Jerôme Bibette
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, Av. A. Schweitzer, 33600 PESSAC
J. L. Viovy
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physico Chimie Théorique (URA CNRS 1382) ESPCI, 10 Rue Vauquelin, 75005 PARIS and Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Curie (UMR CNRS 168), Institut Curie Section de Recherche, 11 Rue P.M. Curie, 75005 (corresponding address)
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Abstract

We present a new method for electrophoretic separation of DNA, Ferro fluid Array Electrophoresis (FAE). The method uses a stabilized suspension of an hydrophobic ferrofluid in aqueous buffer as the separating medium. When this suspension is placed in a slab cell and submitted to a magnetic field perpendicular to the slab plane, it organizes into a regular array of columns with micron-sized spacing. DNA migrating in this maze leads to size-fractionation. Resolution of lambda phage (48.5 kbp) and T4 (140 kbp) DNA molecules in 30 mn is achieved. The motion of individual DNA molecules during FAE is observed using fluorescence videomicroscopy, and the molecular mechanisms responsible for separation are discussed in the light of recent computer simulations. During migration, large DNA molecules temporarily wrap around the impenetrable ferrofluid columns. They disengage by slippage, like a rope on a pulley, and the dependence of the disengagement time upon DNA size is responsible for the size-fractionation.

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References

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