No leaks, no caps!
Vapor-Lock™ is not a mineral oil or wax, but a brand-new type of PCR encapsulation barrier that is highly effective, practical, and even automation-compatible. It's so good that using caps is entirely optional!
In the past, overlaying PCR reactions with oil or wax (or both) served to prevent evaporation and to separate reaction components for special uses such as hot-start (Sparkman 1992, Bassam & Caetano-Anolles 1993, Riol et al 1994).
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Over time however, the use of overlays has diminished, mainly because their high viscosity made them tedious and imprecise to dispense. Also, innovations such as heated lids and hot-start enzymes seemingly made them obsolete. Or did they?
New Vapor-LockTM technology from Corbett Research has made overlays highly practical again. Vapor-Lock is a new hydrophobic, low-viscosity synthetic vapour barrier. It's extremely easy to handle - unlike oils and wax beads - and only a small amount (as little as 10 µL) creates an effective barrier.
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Vapor-Lock Benefits
n No more caps
By not using caps you reduce cost, handling and setup time. Eliminating plastic caps is also environmentally responsible.
n PCR "Insurance"
Using Vapor-Lock ensures a higher success rate (whether caps are used or not) by creating a perfect-fit vapor barrier that never "leaks". By comparison, caps and adhesive films have an unpredictable failure rate due to improper sealing. Precision applications such as HRMTM (High Resolution Melt) are also more reproducible with a Vapor-Lock barrier.
n Ideal for real-time
Vapor-Lock is ideal for real-time amplification and detection. It’s optically clear, non-toxic, does not autofluoresce and contains no biological contaminants or reaction inhibitors.
n Consistent setup
Because Vapor-Lock actively encapsulates aqueous reaction components on contact you no longer need to rush reaction setup to try and reduce evaporation artifacts.
n Zero condensation
During thermal cycling, a certain amount of evaporation and re-condensation inside a capped tube is unavoidable, usually visible as a haze or as water droplets inside tube surfaces. This condensation changes the reaction volume and thus the concentration of each reaction component, a particular concern with low-volume PCR reactions.
n Maximize your budget
Stretch your reagent dollar to the limit! With Vapor-Lock you can confidently use the smallest reaction volume your real-time system will support (e.g. use 5 µL reactions in a Rotor-Gene 0.1 mL strip tube format, download the research report or slide set below for details).
n Prevents contamination
Vapor-Lock overlay maintains a perfect-fit barrier that prevents aerosol contamination. When adding or removing aqueous components the hydrophobic Vapor-Lock barrier effectively “wipes” the tip clean with each use - especially valuable in a post-PCR environment.
n Automation compatible
Fully-automated overlaying and reaction setup can be done with a Corbett Robotics CAS-1200™ PCR setup robot. Sophisticated liquid level sensing in the CAS-1200 robot ignores the non-aqueous Vapor-Lock allowing it to aspirate and dispense underneath the barrier, capitalizing on the “wipe-clean” effect Vapor-Lock has on tips.
n Post-PCR made easy
Where PCR product requires downstream processing (e.g. for electrophoresis, DNA sequencing or Pyrosequencing), dispensing with caps altogether and using only Vapor-Lock makes handling a breeze. With no caps to open and re-close you have direct access to all samples through the permeable barrier. Vapor-Lock's wipe-clean effect also eliminates the chronic cross-contamination risks of opening and closing tubes.
n Easy partitioning
Standard procedure with any tube format (even plates) includes a brief centrifuge prior to cycling to spin down reaction components. The incredibly low viscosity of Vapor-Lock means that even the briefest centrifugation is sufficient for full-partitioning of the Vapor-Lock and aqueous components. A centrifugation step is not required in a Corbett Research Rotor-Gene real-time analyzer since its rotary format automatically removes any air bubbles and neatly partitions Vapor-Lock around the reaction.
Resources
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For more information and supporting data, download the Vapor-Lock research report (200kb) |
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Download slide set (600kb) |
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Download MSDS information (US, Europe, Australia) |
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