Kinetic characteristics of continuous flow polymerase chain reaction chip: A numerical investigation

Continuous flow PCR (polymerase chain reaction) chip holds impressive advantages compared to micro chamber PCR chip. In order to have better understanding of kinetic characteristics of continuous flow PCR chip, a comprehensive mathematical model is presented in this paper, including melting, annealing and extension phases of a typical PCR process which has the essence of a convection-diffusion-reaction system. Using this model, we can simulate the PCR process in series of reaction cycles. Numerical results show that the average sample velocity plays a significant role in affecting the amplification efficiency. Also, appropriate combination of the PCR mixture is important for high-quality DNA amplification. Giving a large initial DNA concentration range, the continuous flow PCR scheme holds excellent real-time detection ability theoretically. The present numerical model bridges the temperature distribution to the real DNA amplification, and thereby is able to successfully predict continuous flow PCR properties which are important for the chip design.