Chromosome photoinactivation, a new method for high speed chromosome sorting

A new optical high-speed chromosome sorting concept is under development which relies on chromosome inactivation rather than droplet sorting to meet the demands of large volume sorting for cloning into large insert vectors. Inactivation can be achieved by photosensitizing and cross-linking metaphase chromosomes. By eliminating the need to create droplets, sorting rates 50 to 100 times faster than the sorting rates of commercial sorters will be achieved. Preliminary experiments using 8-methoxy psoralen in combination with UV doses of about 20 kJ/m2 have shown that: (1) DNA is cross-linked and remains double stranded even under denaturing conditions, (2) the ability of psoralen treated plasmid DNA to transect E. coli XL1-Blue cells is totally blocked following UV exposure, and (3) an average of one interstrand cross-link per 6 kb is produced with these UV doses.