Scalable acoustic virtual stirrer for enhanced interfacial enzymatic nucleic acid reactions

Enzymatic nucleic acid reaction is a fundamental tool in molecular biology. However, high-complexity enzymatic DNA reactions and assays are still challenging due to the difficulties in integrating and scaling up microscale reaction units and mixing tools. Here, we present scalable acoustofluidic platform featuring acoustic virtual stirrer (AVS) arrays, serving as stirrers to increase the efficiency of interfacial enzymatic nucleic acid reactions. Analogous to magnetic stirrers, AVS arrays perturb the fluid through oscillating pressure nodes, controllable in terms of speeds and amplitudes via modulation. By optimizing the kinetics of surface-tethered DNA and enzymes via AVS, we achieve a 7.74% improvement in the stepwise yield of enzymatic DNA synthesis. In addition, the AVS enhanced DNA logic gate architecture can complete responses within 2 minutes, achieving average speed enhancement of 8.58 times compared to the non-AVS configuration. With its tunability, ease of integration, and efficiency, this technology holds promises for applications in biology and chemistry.