Real-time damage monitoring of irradiated DNA.

This article presents a microfluidic technique for the real-time analysis of DNA damage due to radiation exposure. A continuous-flow spatial melting analysis was performed every three seconds on a sample of isolated DNA while it was being irradiated. The formation of photoproducts being caused by the UV-C radiation was monitored during the process. Cumulative damage produced distinct changes in the DNA melting curves, characterized by a shifting and broadening of the melting peaks. The design of the microfluidic device, the experimental procedure, and the analysis algorithm and interactive GUI are discussed herein. In addition, the advantages of this system are correlated to specific needs of related scientific studies, such as the investigation of sequence-specific damage susceptibility and the characterization of exposure-damage nonlinearities.