Rapid Prototyping of Multichannel Microfluidic Devices for Single-Molecule DNA Curtain Imaging

Single-molecule imaging and manipulation of biochemical reactions continues to reveal numerous biological insights. To facilitate these studies, we have developed and implemented a high-throughput approach to organize and image hundreds of individual DNA molecules at aligned diffusion barriers. Nonetheless, obtaining statistically relevant data sets under a variety of reaction conditions remains challenging. Here, we present a method for integrating high-throughput single-molecule “DNA curtain” imaging with poly­(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-based microfluidics. Our benchtop fabrication method can be accomplished in minutes with common tools found in all molecular biology laboratories. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by simultaneous imaging of two independent biochemical reaction conditions in a laminar flow device. In addition, five different reaction conditions can be observed concurrently in a passive linear gradient generator. Combining rapid microfluidic fabrication with high-throughput DNA curtains greatly expands our capability to interrogate complex biological reactions.