Development of nano-dissection chip for analysis of chromosome nanostructure and its function

The dissection of chromosomes followed by extraction of specific DNA fragments constitutes a topic of high interest, especially for cytogenetic studies in the post genome era. The dissected chromosomes can be used in various conventional applications, including establishing probes for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), the generation of chromosome band-specific libraries and physical mapping for cytogenetic analysis. For this purpose, several reports using micro- and nano-dissection methods by micromanipulators have been published. In the present study, we developed a functional chromosome nano-dissection chip that can dissect various chromosomes in one-chip by using the pattern chip with nano-scale porous anodic alumina. The porous anodic alumina, that makes use of self-organized nanoarray materials as a template for the pattern chip, has a highly oriented porous structure with uniform and nearly parallel pores that can be organized in an almost precise close-packed hexagonal structure. The most characteristic feature of this material has been emphasized with the extremely high aspect ratio of their channels that is difficult to achieve with conventional lithographic techniques. This chromosome nano-dissection chip can dissect directly a specific chromosome into a nano-scale pore without AFM dissection process. Thus, we expect that are chromosome nanoarray chip is very suitable for arraying chromosome fragments without the recovery process with the possibility of direct immobilization of chromosome fragments into nano-scale pore of this chip.