DNA base sequencer

Abstract: The improved DNA base sequencer comprising an electrophoresis plate (74) having a gel electrolyte layer (90) held between two glass plates (86, 88), one of which is partially cut away on the top edge in the direction of width, an assay compartment (22) for accommodating said electrophoresis plate in a vertically erect position, a lower reservoir (30) of a buffer solution in which the lower part of the gel electrolyte layer in the electrophoresis plate is to be immersed, an upper reservoir (28) of a buffer solution in which the upper part of said electrolyte layer is to be immersed, photoexciting laser light applying means (70) by which laser light is emitted from a lateral side of the electrophoresis plate in such a way that it crosses the lanes in said plate at right angles, and fluorescence detecting means (84) by which the fluorescence emitted from a DNA fragment illuminated with the laser light is picked up and converted to an electric signal, wherein a sharkstoothcomb (1) made of a water-swellable material is inserted from the top edge of said electrophoresis plate (74) into the space between the two glass plates, either the top or bottom edge of said sharkstoothcomb being provided with a plurality of teeth (3) which are each tapered from the root toward the tip.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to sharkstoothcomb adapted for use in a DNA base sequencer, or in an apparatus for determining the base sequences of DNA. More particularly, this invention relates to sharkstoothcomb adapted for use in an apparatus with which the base sequences of DNA can be determined by fluorescent labelling in an efficient and rapid manner. Gel electrophoresis is practiced extensively as a technique for determining the base sequences of DNA and other proteins. Conventionally, the sample to be subjected to electrophoresis is labelled with a radioisotope for analysis but this method has had the problem of being painstaking and time-consuming. Furthermore, the use of radioactive substances always calls for utmost safety and management and analysis cannot be performed in areas other than facilities that clear certain regulations. Under the circumstances, a method that uses fluorophores to label the sample and which detects fluorescences as emitted upon irradiation with light is being reviewed. In this method, fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments are caused to migrate through a gel and a light excitation portion and a photodetector are provided for each electrophoresis track in an area 5 - 20 cm below the start point of electrophoresis. The DNA fragments are assayed as they pass through the line connecting the light excitation portion and the photodetector. A typical procedure of the method is described below. First, using as template the DNA chain to be determined for its base sequence, DNAs of various lengths with known terminal base species are replicated by a method involving an enzymatic reaction (the dideoxy method). Then, the replicated DNAs are labelled with a fluorophore. Stated more specifically, there are prepared a group of adenine (A) fragments, a group of cytosine (C) fragments, a group of guanine (G) fragments and a group of thymine (T) fragments, all being labelled with a fluorophore. A mixture of these fragment groups is injected into separate lane grooves in an electrophoretic gel and, thereafter, a voltage is applied at opposite ends of the gel. Since DNA is a chained polymer with negative charges, it will move across the gel at a rate in inverse proportion to its molecular weight. The shorter the DNA chain (the smaller its molecular weight), the faster will it move and vice versa; this is the principle behind the fractionation of DNA by molecular weight. EP 0 626 578 A1 discloses an apparatus for gel electrophoresis combined with a fluorescence detector for the determination of fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application (kokai) No. JP-63021556 teaches a DNA bases sequencer that is adapted in such a way that a line on the gel in an apparatus for electrophoresis at which laser light is applied and the direction in which photodiodes are arranged are both perpendicular to the direction in which DNA fragments migrate in the apparatus. The setup of this apparatus is shown schematically in Fig. 9. In the apparatus shown in Fig. 9, a laser beam emitted from a light source 70 is reflected by a mirror 72 and launched horizontally from one side of an electrophoresis plate 74 at a predetermined point on the gel. As the fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments migrating through the gel pass through the irradiated region, they will fluoresce successively. The horizontal position of fluorescence emission tells the species of a particular terminal base, the time difference from the start of migration tells the length of a particular fragment, and the emission wavelength identifies the sample under assay. The fluorescence from each electrophoresis track is condensed by a lens 78 to focus at a light-receiving area 82 in an image intensifier 80. The received signal is amplified and converted to an electric signal in a photodiode array 84 for the purpose of various measurements. The results of measurements are processed with a computer so that the sequences of the individual DNA fragments are calculated to determine the base sequence of the DNA at issue. As shown enlarged in Fig. 10, the electrophoresis plate 74 comprises a pair of glass plates 86 and 88 between which is held a gel electrolyte layer 90 made of an electrophoresing gel (e.g. polyacrylamide gel). To regulate the thickness of the gel electrolyte layer 90, a spacer 92 is provided between the two glass plates along both vertical edges. The top edge of the glass plate 88 is cut away in a specified depth across the entire width except both lateral ends. The resulting cutout 94 provides access for a buffer solution to make contact with the top edge of gel electrolyte layer 90. The electrophoresis plate 74 has an overall thickness of about 10 mm but the thickness of the gel electrolyte layer itself is only about 0.3 mm. The upper edge of the gel electrolyte layer is comb-shaped (i.e., has indentations) and located substantially flush with the bottom 96 of the cutout 94. Fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments to be assayed are injected into grooves 75 between the teeth of the comb. Each of the grooves 75 into which the DNA fragments are to be injected has a width of about 1.5 mm and a depth of no more than about 5 mm. Two grooves are spaced apart by a distance of about 2 mm. Such small dimensions require that a fine glass tube, such as a capillary, be used to inject the samples into the grooves 75. However, due to the transparency of the glass plates and the gel electrolyte, identifying or determining the positions of the individual grooves 75 is extremely difficult and the failure to inject the samples into the right grooves has been frequent. To determine the base sequences of DNA, the four bases that compose the DNA, i.e., adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T), must be detected according to the correct order. A failure in sample injection is most likely to cause an error in the result of analysis. Hence, sample injection requires utmost care, which has been one of the reasons for the substantial drop in the operational efficiency. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is to provide a sharkstoothcomb adapted for use in a DNA base sequencer that permits easy injection of a sample into a desired lane in the gel electrolyte layer in an electrophoresis plate. This object can be attained by a sharkstoothcomb adapted for use in a DNA base sequencer, wherein either the top or bottom edge of said sharkstoothcomb (1) is provided with a plurality of teeth (3) which are each tapered from the root toward the tip, characterized in that said sharkstoothcomb (1) is made of a water-swellable material. The present invention also relates in a preferred embodiment to a sharkstoothcomb as defined above, adapted for use in a DNA base sequencer comprising an electrophoresis plate having a gel electrolyte layer held between two glass plates, one of which is partially cut away on the top edge in the direction of width, an assay compartment for accommodating said electrophoresis plate in a vertically erect position, a lower reservoir of a buffer solution in which the lower part of the gel electrolyte layer in the electrophoresis plate is to be immersed, an upper reservoir of a buffer solution in which the upper part of said electrolyte layer is to be immersed, photoexciting laser light applying means by which laser light is emitted from a lateral side of the electrophoresis plate in such a way that it crosses the lanes in said plate at right angles, and fluorescence detecting means by which the fluorescence emitted from a DNA fragment illuminated with the laser light is picked up and converted to an electric signal, wherein said sharkstoothcomb can be inserted from the top edge of said electrophoresis plate into the space between the two glass plates. The sharkstoothcomb to be used in the DNA base sequencer of the invention is made of a water-swellable material. If this sharkstoothcomb is inserted from the top edge of the electro-phoresis plate into the gel electrolyte layer between the two glass plates, it swells upon absorbing the water in both the gel electrolyte layer and the buffer solutions in the upper and lower reservoirs. The swollen sharkstoothcomb closes all gaps present between the two glass plates in the electrophoresis plate to ensure that any sample loading zone defined by adjacent teeth of the comb is positively protected against contamination by the samples loaded in other zones. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a plan view of a sharkstoothcomb of the invention that is to be inserted for use into the electrophoresis plate in the DNA base sequencer; Fig. 2 is a plan view showing partially enlarged the sharkstoothcomb of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view showing partially enlarged the sharkstoothcomb of Fig. 1 as it is inserted into the electrophoresis plate; Fig. 4 is a section taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a cross section showing schematically a sharkstoothcomb laminated with a plastic film on both sides; Fig. 6 is a plan view of a sharkscomb according to another embodiment of the invention; Fig. 7 is a plan view showing partially enlarged the sharkstoothcomb of Fig. 6 as it is inserted into the electrophoresis plate; Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing schematically a DNA base sequencer using the water-swellable sharkstoothcomb of the invention; Fig. 9 shows diagrammatically the DNA base sequencer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application (kokai) No. JP-63021556; and Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing partially enlarged the electrophoresis plate used in the DNA base sequencer of Fig. 9. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Fig. 1 is a plan view of a sharkstoothcomb of the invention that is to be used in the DNA base sequencer. The sharkstoothcomb indicated by 1 has a series of teeth 3 formed on one of its longer sides. The number of teeth 3 to be formed is in no way limited and but variable according to the width of the electrophoresis plate into which the sharkstoothcomb is to be inserted. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing enlarged a portion of the teeth 3. Each of the teeth 3 is tapered from the root toward the truncated tip to provide a generally trapezoidal shape. Alternatively, each of the teeth 3 may simply be tapered from the root to a pointed tip to provide a generally acute angled triangle. Two adjacent teeth 3 define a space 5 which provides a lane. Given the same length, a sharkstoothcomb having tapered teeth 3 provides more lanes than the conventional sharkstoothcomb having rectangular (untapered) teeth. The length, L, of each tooth 3 is not limited to any particular value. The distance, D, between teeth 3 also is not limited to any particular value. The values of L and D may be determined as appropriate for the quantity of a sample under electrophoresis analysis, such as fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments, which is to fill the space 5 between adjacent teeth 3. For analysis by gel electrophoresis, about 1.8 µl of the fluorophore-labelled DNA fragment will suffice as a sample to fill the space 5 and a maximum amount of the sample is no more than about 3 - 4 µl. As guide figures, L and D may be 10.0 mm and 3.5 mm, respectively. The width, W, at the tip of each tooth 3 also is not limited to any particular value. The value of W is determined by the limit of working with a shear blade used in forming the teeth 3 by punching; as a guide figure, W may be about 0.3 mm. Fig. 3 is a front view showing partially enlarged the sharkstoothcomb 1 as it is set in an electrophoresis plate 74. The sharkstoothcomb 1 is inserted between the two glass plates, typically from above the top edge of the electrophoresis plate 74. Preferably, the tips of the teeth 3 of the sharkstoothcomb 1 are partly buried to a depth d in the gel electrolyte layer 90. In this way, each tooth 3 serves as a wall that separates two adjacent spaces 5 to be filled with a sample of interest. The value of d is not limited to any particular value; as a guide figure, d may be about 2 mm at maximum. Fig. 4 is a section taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 3. As shown, the top edge of the glass plate 88 which combines with the other glass plate 86 to form the electrophoresis plate is partly cut away in the longitudinal direction. Since the teeth 3 have a specified length, an opening 7 is formed between the root of each tooth and the bottom edge 96 of the cutout 94 in the glass plate 88. The tip of injection means 9 such as a capillary or micropipette may be inserted through the opening 7 into the space 5 for injecting a sample 11. The sharkstoothcomb 1 is made of a water-swellable material such as paper, cork, wood, cloth, skin, leather, hide, bamboo or unwoven fabric. Paper is the most preferred. The initial thickness of the water-swellable sharkstoothcomb 1 to be inserted between the two glass plates must be less than the distance between the latter. For instance, if the two glass plates is spaced apart by about 0.3 mm, the initial thickness of the sharkstoothcomb 1 is preferably from about 0.25 mm to about 0.15 mm. The tips of the teeth 3 of the sharkstoothcomb 1 which are buried in the gel electrolyte layer 90 absorb the water in said electrolyte layer, causing the sharkstoothcomb 1 to swell until it fills all the gaps between the two glass plates. In order to ensure that the tips of the teeth 3 are positively buried in the gel electrolyte layer 90, the paper if it is used to form the sharkstoothcomb 1 must have a sufficient strength. To meet this requirement, tissue paper having an initial thickness of about 0.25 - 0.15 mm has preferably a basis weight in the range from about 150 g/m 2 to about 250 g/m 2 , with the range from about 160 g/m 2 to about 180 g/m 2 being more preferred. The paper should not have any adverse effects on the results of analyses. For example, chemically processed pulp or paper that contains fluorophores should not be used. Filter paper or paper used with foodstuffs are preferred since they are extensively used in chemical analyses. Sharkstoothcombs made of paper are prone to tear when they swell upon absorbing water. Tearing has often occurred to swollen paper sharkstoothcombs if their surface is scratched by the tip of a sample injecting device such as a capirally. In order to prevent such accidents, the paper sharkstoothcomb 1 is preferably laminated with a thin plastic film 13 on both sides. Plastic films suitable for this purpose are films of thermoplastic resins such as polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, Teflon, poly(vinyl chloride), poly(vinylidene chloride), polybutadiene, polyacrylates, polystyrene and EVA resins. A suitable adhesive (which may be heat- or pressure-sensitive) may be interposed between the paper and the laminating film. The thickness of the film to be used is not limited to any particular value but it is necessary that the overall thickness of the laminate comprising the paper coated with a plastic film on both sides should be less than 0.3 mm. The thickness of the laminate is variable and ranges typically from 10 to 100 µm, preferably from 20 to 80 µm. To take paper having a basis weight of 160 kg/m 2 as an example, the thickness of the film to be laminated on both sides is preferably within the range from 30 to 40 µm. Laminating the paper with a plastic film on both sides causes no problems since the cut and exposed faces 15 of the teeth 3 will absorb water to cause the sharkstoothcomb 1 to swell. The gel electrolyte layer 90 is typically formed of 5% polyacrylamide which is a transparent material. The glass plates 86 and 88 are also transparent. Hence, it has been very difficult with the conventional electrophoresis plate to know where the sample should be injected. In contrast, the paper sharkstoothcomb to be used in the invention has a white color and the user can readily identify the sites where the sample should be injected. As a result, there will be no errors in sample injection and the operator can provide more sites for sample injection (i.e., lanes) than has been possible in the prior art, thereby increasing the number of samples that can be analyzed on one electrophoresis plate, which contributes to a higher throughput of analysis. It should be noted here that the color of the paper sharkstoothcomb to be used in the invention is in no way limited to white and other colors may of course be used as long as they assist in speeding up the process of sample injection. As shown in Fig. 6, identifying means 17 may be provided on the surface of the paper to insure that the user can clearly recognize where to inject samples. Such identifying means may typically be provided by printing. For example, numerals or ruled lines may be provided to indicate sample lane groups 1 - 8, each group consisting of lanes for four bases A, T, C and G. Vertical ruled lines which extend upward from the top edges of the openings 7 are particularly desirable since they not only provide ease in recognizing the positions of the openings 7 but also enable the process of sample injection to be performed in an easy and rapid manner if the tip of injection means such as a capillary is slid along a particular ruled line to be inserted through the opening 7 into the space 5. On the other hand, horizontal ruled lines help identify the boundary between adjacent groups of sample lanes. Numerals and ruled lines may be printed in a monochromatic color such as with a black ink or different colors may be used for different groups. The lanes on either end of the sharkstoothcomb are used to inject a liquid having a comparable salt concentration to the sample (the liquid may consist of a reaction buffer, a loading dye and water) in order to insure that the injected sample will be electrophoresed vertically. As also shown in Fig. 6, a pull tab 19 may be provided on both ends of the top edge of the sharkstoothcomb 1. As Fig. 7 shows clearly, the pull tabs 19 are desirably long enough to project beyond the top edge of the electrophoresis plate 74 by a sufficient amount such that the user can hold them and pull out the sharkstoothcomb 1 from the electrophoresis plate 74. The sharkstoothcomb of the invention is used primarily for facilitating sample injection into the respective lanes. Therefore, once the samples have been loaded on the upper part of the gel electrolyte layer for the respective lanes and when they are subsequently advanced into the electrolyte layer, the sharkstoothcomb is no longer necessary in the electrophoresis plate. On the contrary, if it continues to be presented in the subsequent stage, the impurities derived from it may potentially affect the result of electrophoresis and/or the presence of the sharkstoothcomb itself may prevent uniform application of an electric field to the gel electrolyte layer. To avoid these possibilities, when the injected samples have advanced into the gel electrolyte layer for the respective lanes, the application of voltage is preferably stopped and the sharkstoothcomb of the invention is removed from the electrophoresis plate, followed by restoring the voltage application to continue the electrophoresis. Pull tabs 19 are provided to facilitate the removal of the sharkstoothcomb before starting electrophoresis with the restored voltage. The object of the invention cannot be attained if the sharkstoothcomb 1 is formed of a plastic material. For one thing, thin plastic sheets are subject to local variations in thickness. For another, the spacers and glass plates are also subject to deformations due to warpage. The space between the two glass plates cannot be completely filled with a plastic sharkstoothcomb, leaving local gaps between the sharkstoothcomb and each of the glass plates. The thickness of spacers is typically 0.3 mm ± 10% whereas the plastic sharkstoothcomb has a thickness of 0.324 mm ± 10%. Given this tolerance, the electrophoresis plate will have a clearance of up to 0.0864 mm present between the sharkstoothcomb and each of the glass plates. This could be solved by improving the surface precision of the glass plates and minimizing the variations in the thickness of the sharkstoothcomb. However, this method is not only costly but also impractical for producing large quantities of sharkstoothcombs with consistent quality being assured in terms of thickness. It should be particularly mentioned that if gaps occur at the tips of some teeth of the sharkstoothcomb, the sample in one space 7 will leak into an adjacent space and the two samples in different lanes intermix to cause an error in the analysis. This problem does not occur in sharkstoothcombs made of water-swellable materials. Even if the initial thickness of such sharkstoothcomb has local variations or even if the glass plates are deformed due to warpage, the sharkstoothcomb will swell upon absorbing water until the space between the glass plates is completely closed. Thus, the use of the sharkstoothcomb constructed according to the invention offers the advantage that it allows certain variations in the precision of the sharkstoothcomb and other components including the spacers and glass plates without causing any significantly adverse effects on the results of analyses. Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing schematically a DNA base sequencer using the water-swellable sharkstoothcomb 1 of the invention. As shown, the DNA base sequencer generally indicated by 20 has an assay compartment 22 that can be shielded from light by being enclosed with a slidable cover 24 during analysis. The electrophoresis plate 74 is held vertical within the assay compartment by means of a holder 26, which also retains an upper buffer reservoir 28 in such a way that it is integral with the electrophoresis plate 74. The bottom of the electrophoresis plate 74 is placed within a lower buffer reservoir 30. When the upper buffer reservoir 28 is filled with a buffer solution, the latter flows into the electrophoresis plate 74 via the cutout in one of the two glass plates to make contact with the gel electrolyte layer. When the lower buffer reservoir 30 is filled with a buffer solution, the bottom edge of the gel electrolyte layer is immersed in the buffer solution. To ensure that a current will flow from the buffer solution in the upper reservoir through the gel electrolyte layer to the buffer solution in the lower reservoir, electrodes 32 and 34 are connected to the upper and lower buffer reservoirs, respectively. A clamp mechanism 36 is provided to allow for detachable engagement of the electrophoresis plate 74 with the holder 26. A laser light emitting end 38 is provided on a side wall of the assay compartment in such a way that the optical axis of the laser light is perpendicular to the lanes in the electrophoresis plate 74. As described on the foregoing pages, the sharkstoothcomb to be used in the DNA base sequencer of the invention is made of a water-swellable material, so if it is inserted from the top edge of the electrophoresis plate into the gel electrolyte layer between the two glass plates, it swells upon absorbing the water in both the gel electrolyte layer and the buffer solutions in the upper and lower reservoirs. The swollen sharkstoothcomb closes all gaps present between the two glass plates in the electrophoresis plate to ensure that any sample loading zone defined by adjacent teeth of the comb is positively protected against contamination by the samples loaded in other zones.

Claims: A sharkstooth comb (1) adapted for use in a DNA base sequencer, wherein either the top or bottom edge of said sharkstooth comb (1) is provided with a plurality of teeth (3) which are each tapered from the root toward the tip, characterized in that said sharkstooth comb (1) is made of a water-swellable material. A sharkstooth comb (1) according to claim 1, adapted for use in a DNA base sequencer comprising an electrophoresis plate (74) having a gel electrolyte layer (90) held between two glass plates (86, 88), one of which is partially cut away on the top edge in the direction of width, an assay compartment (22) for accommodating said electrophoresis plate in a vertically erect position, a lower reservoir (30) of a buffer solution in which the lower part of the gel electrolyte layer in the electrophoresis plate is to be immersed, an upper reservoir (28) of a buffer solution in which the upper part of said electrolyte layer is to be immersed, photoexciting laser light applying means (70) by which laser light is emitted from a lateral side of the electrophoresis plate in such a way that it crosses the lanes in said plate at right angles, and fluorescence detecting means (84) by which the fluorescence emitted from a DNA fragment illuminated with the laser light is picked up and converted to an electric signal, wherein said sharkstooth comb (1) can be inserted from the top edge of said electrophoresis plate (74) into the space between the two glass plates (86, 88). The sharkstooth comb according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said sharkstooth comb (1) is made of paper. The sharkstooth comb according to claim 3, wherein said sharkstooth comb (1) is made of paper having a basis weight ranging from 150 g/m 2 to 250 g/m 2 , preferably from 160 g/m 2 to 180 g/m 2 . The sharkstooth comb according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said sharkstooth comb (1) is laminated with a plastic film on both sides. The sharkstooth comb according to claim 5, wherein said plastic film is a polyethylene film, preferably having a thickness of from 30 pm to 40 µm. The sharkstooth comb according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said sharkstooth comb (1) has the tips of the teeth cut transversely along a straight line The sharkstooth comb according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said sharkstooth comb (1) has means (17) for identifying the site of sample injection provided at the roots of several teeth. The sharkstooth comb according to claim 8, wherein said identifying means (17) is provided by printing symbols and ruled lines on the surface of said sharkstooth comb (1). The sharkstooth comb according to claim 9, wherein said symbols are either numerals or letters or both and said ruled lines consist of vertical and horizontal lines. The sharkstooth comb according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said sharkstooth comb (1) has a pull tab (19) of a specified width provided at both right and left ends of the top edge in such a way that they project beyond said top edge. The sharkstooth comb according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tips of the teeth of said sharkstooth comb (1) are buried to a specified depth in the gel electrolyte layer (90).

Inventors: MACHIDA HIROAKI, MISHINA YOSHINORI, MIYAZAKI YUUSUKE, TAKAGI SHINICHI, MACHIDA, HIROAKI, MISHINA, YOSHINORI, MIYAZAKI, YUUSUKE, TAKAGI, SHINICHI
Applicants: HITACHI ELECTR ENG, HITACHI ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: G01N27
IPC codes: C12M1, G01N21, G01N27, G01N33, C12Q1, C07H21