Rapid analysis of amplified double-stranded DNA by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence...

Electrophoresis is an important and fundamental tool for DNA analysis. Traditional DNA electrophoresis is labor-intensive, skill-dependent, and relatively slow. To achieve greater performance, capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been developed for DNA work (1-2). The DNA fragments can be separated by molecular sieving in CE with gel-filled capillaries, based on the same principle as that of the conventional gel electrophoresis. The whole procedure can be completed in a relatively short period with great resolution. Recently, CE equipped with laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF) has been used as a tool for DNA analysis (3). Using fluorescence DNA intercalators in a gel-filled capillary, the detection sensitivity was found to increase 2-3 orders of magnitude over that of UV detection, and reaches picogram levels (3).