Efficient cell lysis and PCR platform with induction heating for C. elegans gene analysis

Abstract So far, existing efforts to miniaturize cell lysis and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) systems often have faced challenges in achieving sufficient and uniform heating with minimal power input along with low operational voltage. This study aims to develop an efficient cell lysis and PCR platform based on induction heating, capable of performing nucleic acid amplification with reduced system complexity and power requirements. The system employs primary induction coil, secondary coil in cell lysis or PCR cocktails, and subsidiary metal ring under cell lysis or PCR microtube to generate an alternating magnetic field, which induces eddy currents to facilitate volumetric heating. PCR thermal cycling was conducted under 12 V input voltage and less than 25 W power. Genomic DNA (gDNA) from Caenorhabditis elegans ( C. elegans ) was used as a model target, and gDNA release and its segmental amplification were confirmed through UV–Vis spectroscopy and agarose gel electrophoresis. The proposed induction-based system successfully amplified two act-1 gene of 133 bp segment and 1875 bp segment of C. elegans gDNA, respectively. The system maintained stable thermal profiles necessary for denaturation (95 °C), annealing (60 °C), and extension (72 °C) steps for 40 cycles. Feasibility of the induction heating as an effective low-power gene analysis for C. elegans can provide a promise for the development of field-deployable genetic diagnostic devices. Further studies can be designed to optimize thermal control and validate performance across diverse gDNA of mammalian cell and microorganism.