Nucleic Acid Technology

The superior sensitivity of nucleic acid amplification technique (NAT) enables diagnosis of infectious diseases (HIV, HCV, HBV…) at an early stage before positive serologic results indicate an infection. NAT has, therefore, become a standard application in the clinical laboratory.

Nucleic acid isolation or purification is an important step, but it remains very labor-intensive when performed manually.

The classical methods of isolating nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) rely on density gradient centrifugation and phenol-chloroform extraction. These two procedures are lengthy, labour intensive and nearly impossible to automate. They also require the use of hazardous chemicals.

Today, companies focus on increasing the throughput of nucleic acids purification by using rapid, easy to handle, fully automated and safer procedures.

Our MagPrep® Silica Particles have been developed to address these needs.

Principle DNA or RNA extraction thanks to MagPrep® Silica Particles

For nucleic acids purification, many scientists have already replaced the centrifugation and organic extraction steps with our MagPrep® Silica Particles. The silica magnetic beads are positively charged and, therefore, easily bind the negatively charged nucleic acids. This system enables laboratories to automatically process tens of thousands of samples per day.

Our MagPrep® Silica binds RNA as well as DNA with very high efficiency in the presence of chaotropic reagents as well as under mild acidic buffer conditions. Three variations of the particles are available, allowing scientists to select the best candidate for each application and sample type in nucleic acid purification procedures. Use of reagents without organic solvents (or centrifugation) allows simple and cost-effective automation of this method on common pipetting robots with low risk of contamination.

Silica Magnetic Microspheres

MagPrep® Silica particles were designed to meet the most important requirements for solid supports being used in nucleic acid purification protocols.

Unlike common silica supports, MagPrep® Silica binds RNA as well as DNA with very high efficiency and under two generic conditions (in the presence of chaotropic reagents or under mild acidic buffer conditions).

More importantly, nucleic acids bound to the particles tolerate the use of slightly acidic aqueous wash buffers without being released. There is no need to use ethanol during the wash steps. Elution of bound nucleic acids is accomplished by any type of aqueous buffer pHed higher than 8.0.

MagPrep® Silica have a particle size of 100-200nm. Homogenized suspensions of the particles are stable for up to five minutes without further agitation. Magnetic clearance of the suspension takes less than 15 seconds. These properties are particularly useful for high-throughput screening (HTS) applications.

Three variations of the particles are available: basic MagPrep® Silica (1.01193), the "MS" type (1.01644), and the "HS" type (1.01899). HS-type particles are highly selective for binding primarily DNA, whereas basic MagPrep Silica strongly binds RNA depending on the binding conditions. The MS-type represents the intermediate of the two. This set of particles allows scientists to select the best candidate for the each and every application and sample type in nucleic acid purification procedures.

MagPrep® Silica

RNAs bind efficiently to the Basic MagPrep® Silica Particles at acidic conditions and in the presence of a chaotropic salt. Elution is obtained at a slightly alkaline pH (pH >8.0). The detection limit of this method is comparable to the classical spin-column–method, (based on chaotropic salts and silica membrane). This process, using MagPrep® Silica Particles, works on different standard pipetting workstations and offers a high potential for automation.

MagPrep® Silica MS

DNAs and RNAs bind efficiently to the MS MagPrep® Silica Particles at acidic conditions and in the presence of a chaotropic salt. Elution is obtained at a slightly alkaline pH (pH >8.0). The detection limit of the method is comparable to the classical spin-column–method, (based on chaotropic salts and silica membrane). This process, using MagPrep® Silica Particles works on different standard pipetting workstations and offers a high potential for automation.

MagPrep® Silica HS

DNAs bind efficiently to the HS MagPrep® Silica Particles at acidic conditions and in the presence of a chaotropic salt. Elution is obtained at a slightly alkaline pH (pH >8.0). The detection limit of the method is comparable to the classical spin-column–method, (based on chaotropic salts and silica membrane). This process, using MagPrep® Silica Particles, works on different standard pipetting workstations and offers a high potential for automation.