Microintaglio Printing of In situ Synthesized Proteins Enables Rapid Printing of High-Density Protein Microarrays Directly from DNA Microarrays

Abstract

A simple and versatile approach to the simultaneous on-chip synthesis and printing of proteins has been studied for high-density protein microarray applications. The method used is based on the principle of intaglio printing using microengraved plates. Unlike conventional approaches that require multistep reactions for synthesizing proteins off the chip followed by printing using a robotic spotter, our approach demonstrates the following: (i) parallel and spotter-free printing of high-density protein microarrays directly from a type of DNA microarray and (ii) microcompartmentalization of cell-free coupled transcription/translation reaction and direct transferring of picoliter protein solution per spot to pattern microarrays of 25–100 µm features.