DNA-printing: utilization of a standard inkjet printer for the transfer of nucleic acids to solid supports

The use of total cDNA as a probe for hybridization enables the transcription level of a large number of genes to be analyzed at the same time. Some effort has been spent to develop high density gene arrays on different solid supports to facilitate this hybridization. We achieved a high resolution by utilizing inkjet printer technology as a useful alternative to blotting the target genes onto a membrane. By the use of an ordinary inkjet printer model we show that it is possible to print DNA onto hybridization membranes and hybridize using either specific genes or total cDNA as probes. The high resolution of these prints (300 dpi) might be used in the future to construct complex micro-arrays to analyze simultaneously large numbers of genes.