Takara Bio to mass produce microarray DNA fragments

Takara Bio, a biotechnology company in Otsu, Japan, has developed a system which allows for mass production of a wide variety of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) fragments needed to make DNA microarrays, the company announced Tuesday May 14.

DNA microarrays - also known as gene chips or DNA chips - are used in diagnostics and fundamental biological research. They allow researchers to monitor a complete set of genes on a single chip and therefore gain a better picture of the interactions among thousands of genes simultaneously.

Producing DNA chips, however, requires large quantities of a variety of different probe DNA fragments that are complementary to specific genes to be detected.

Until now, PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technology has been used to produce DNA fragments at the laboratory level. This method is costly and complex and is not suitable for industrial use, according to a Takara Bio spokesman who declined to give his name.

To address this market, Takara Bio has developed its ICAN (isothermal gene amplification) technology, which allows 10 times more DNA fragments to be produced per unit volume of reagents than the PCR method with five times less cost, he said.

Using ICAN technology, Takara Bio this month started sales of about 400 types of DNA fragments that are useful for the analysis of cytokine gene functions, a company statement said. Prices for 10 micrograms of DNA fragments are ¥15,000 ($AU213); for 100 micrograms, ¥50,000; and for one milligram, ¥100,000, it said.

"In order to produce 1 million microarrays, about one milligram of DNA fragments are needed. However, the PCR method was only able to produce on a microgram scale," said the spokesman. "Therefore, being able to produce DNA fragments on a milligram scale means (we can reach) industrial production. This can be an equivalent to mass production of semiconductors in the electronic industry," he said, adding that Takara Bio was the only company which produced DNA fragments using ICAN.

The company plans to release a total of 10,000 different types of DNA fragment during the current fiscal year, and expects sales of ¥1 billion in three years' time, the statement said.