4.7 Review

Free convective PCR: From principle study to commercial applications-A critical review

Journal

ANALYTICA CHIMICA ACTA
Volume 1108, Issue -, Pages 177-197

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2020.01.069

Keywords

Convective PCR (CPCR); Thermal convection; Pseudo-isothermal; Nucleic acid diagnosis; Point-of-care test (POCT)

Funding

  1. National Natural Science Foundation of China [81871505, 81371711, 61571420, 61971026]
  2. National Science and Technology Major Project [2018ZX10732101-001-009]
  3. Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [XK1802-4, PYBZ1830, PT1908]
  4. Beijing University of Chemical Technology [buctylkjcx06]

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Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an extremely important tool for molecular diagnosis, as it can specifically amplify nucleic acid templates for sensitive detection. As another division of PCR, free convective PCR was invented in 2001, which can be performed in a capillary tube pseudo-isothermally within a significantly short time. Convective PCR thermal cycling is implemented by inducing thermal convection inside the capillary tube, which stratifies the reaction into spatially separate and stable melting, annealing, and extension zones created by the temperature gradient. Convective PCR is a promising tool that can be used for nucleic acid diagnosis as a point-of-care test (POCT) due to the significantly simplified heating strategy, reduced cost, and shortened detection time without sacrificing sensitivity and accuracy. Here, we review the history of free convective PCR from its invention to development and its commercial applications. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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