{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T04:34:47Z","timestamp":1785731687757,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,17]],"date-time":"2025-03-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1742169600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003399","name":"Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["18441900400"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["18441900400"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003399","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003399","name":"Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["19ZR1477500"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["19ZR1477500"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003399","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Bioengineering"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Capillary electrophoresis based on laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF) plays an important role in the analysis of nucleic acids. However, the commercial CE-LIF is not only quite expensive but also inflexible, thus hindering its widespread use in the lab. Herein, we proposed a compact, low-cost, and flexible CE-LIF system. We also investigated its stability by separating the DNA ladders. Experiments demonstrated that the relative standard error of the relative fluorescence intensity and migration time was lower than 6.2% and 1.1%, respectively. The aperture size of the light source illuminating the capillary can affect the separation performance. Smaller apertures offer higher resolution length for the adjacent DNA fragments but may reduce the number of theoretical plates. Various fluorescent dyes (e.g., SYBR Green I, Gel Green, EvaGreen) can be employed in the self-built system. The limit of detection of dsDNA was as low as 0.05 ng\/\u03bcL. The working range for DNA was 0.05 ng\/\u03bcL~10 ng\/\u03bcL. Finally, we have successfully separated the PCR products of the target gene of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Candida albicans in the home-built CE system. Such a robust CE-LIF system is easy to assemble in the lab. The total cost of the assembled CE system did not exceed 1100 USD. We believe this work can advance the application of CE and hope it will facilitate the easy assembly of flexible CE instruments in labs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bioengineering12030303","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,17]],"date-time":"2025-03-17T08:57:02Z","timestamp":1742201822000},"page":"303","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Development of a Low-Cost and Easy-Assembly Capillary Electrophoresis System for Separation of DNA"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Jiawen","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Tianjin Key Laboratory of Retinal Functions and Diseases, Tianjin Branch of National Clinical Research Center for Ocular Disease, Eye Institute and School of Optometry, Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital, 251 Fu Kang Road, Tianjin 300384, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuaiqiang","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, No. 516 JunGong Road, Shanghai 200093, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiandong","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, No. 516 JunGong Road, Shanghai 200093, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bo","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, No. 516 JunGong Road, Shanghai 200093, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9060-7305","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhenqing","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, No. 516 JunGong Road, Shanghai 200093, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dawei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, No. 516 JunGong Road, Shanghai 200093, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yoshinori","family":"Yamaguchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Picotecbio-Waseda Joint Research Lab, Comprehensive Research Organization, Waseda University, NishiTomita, Honjo 367-0035, Japan"},{"name":"Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116941","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trac.2023.116941","article-title":"Novel developments in capillary electrophoresis miniaturization, sampling, detection and portability: An overview of the last decade","volume":"159","year":"2023","journal-title":"TrAC Trends Anal. 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