Maxwell 16

Weird samples? Contact Tech Serv to find the right DNA purification kit for you.

Posted on by Johanna Lee

“Dear Tech Serv,
We would like to detect DNA collected from swabs rubbed on the inside thighs of frogs. What would be the best DNA extraction kit to use for this?”

“Hi Tech Serv,
I need to find out a suitable kit for extracting DNA from bird fecal samples. Can I use ReliaPrep™ gDNA Tissue Miniprep System for that?”

These are just some examples of unconventional sample type inquiries that the Promega Technical Services Team receives regularly from scientists around the world. Many of these inquiries land in the hands of Technical Services Scientist, Paraj Mandrekar (a.k.a. “sample type guru”). Continue reading “Weird samples? Contact Tech Serv to find the right DNA purification kit for you.”

DNA Purification from Plants: Not All Methods are Equal

Posted on by Kelly Grooms

pestle and mortar with leavesIsolating DNA from plant tissues is difficult for many reasons.  Unlike animal cells, plant cells have rigid cell walls, often made of tough fibrous material, and contain proteins and enzymes and other compounds such as polysaccharides and polyphenols that play a role in different cellular processes. These compounds can interfere with DNA isolation as well as downstream applications such as PCR.  For these reasons, DNA isolation methods that are used successfully for other sample types may not work well to isolate DNA from plant material. Continue reading “DNA Purification from Plants: Not All Methods are Equal”

Extraction of Plant DNA Made Easy

Posted on by Sara Klink
By Trillium1946 at en.wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia) [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

My one attempt at working with plant DNA when I was at the lab bench was trying to create a shotgun library from a rice BAC. Never have I needed to isolate nucleic acid from the source material, but based on my conversations with plant scientists, it can be problematic endeavor between the tough tissue and the compounds that can copurify during extraction and inhibit downstream applications. And if you want to isolate DNA or DNA from plant samples in an automated format, that just adds to the difficulties. Here I review an Applications in Plant Sciences article that compares DNA isolation using the Maxwell® 16 System with two other methods on 25 different plant species samples. The authors note that Promega provided the Maxwell® 16 instrument, DNA isolation cartridges and advice on its use. Continue reading “Extraction of Plant DNA Made Easy”