All About automated nucleic acid extraction
Automated Nucleic acid extraction is a fundamental method in molecular biology that provides the raw material for most wet-lab experiments. Isolating the material, however, is only half the struggle.
Purification of the extracted nucleic acids is just as important for obtaining accurate and consistent results as it is for the overall success of the experiment. But this can only happen if one has an automated DNA extraction system.
DNA extraction can be performed using manual methods, but automated systems are becoming more common to find in labs today. One of the most well known automated DNA extraction systems is the QIAcube system. The QIAcube system uses protein plus ladder to extract DNA from a biological specimen. It is possible for this process to take up to 6 hours, which can be shortened by adding an ethanol precipitation step.
Drawbacks of Manual Nucleic Acid extraction
There Are Some Drawbacks if you use manual ways for nucleic acid extraction and not an automated DNA extraction system.
Today’s molecular biologists have a plethora of easy-to-use automated DNA extraction system that allows them to isolate and purify nucleic acids from practically any material type.
Many of these automated nucleic acid extraction kits are highly successful in purifying nucleic acids. While the one build for manual operation, poses a number of issues:
- Possibility of contamination.
Manual purification, like other manual processes that require pipetting, runs the risk of contamination from sample to sample. Multichannel pipetting can help decrease this danger, but it’s only practical for plate-based procedures.
Even with multichannel pipetting, errors are unavoidable at times, especially when processing very high sample quantities over several rounds due to tiredness. Therefore, it is recommended to use an automated DNA extraction system.
- Scaling up is difficult.
If you do not use automated nucleic acid extraction methods, your scaling up can become difficult at times. With tube-format procedures, the number of tubes that can be processed in a centrifuge and other essential equipment in one go is frequently limited.
- Increased chances of mistakes
If you opt manual method instead of automated nucleic acid extraction, it’s prone to making mistakes. Manual procedures, in addition to the possibility of sample carryover, also provide a risk of mistake. Consider this scenario: you’ve labeled 24 sample tubes, but the labels wash off halfway through the process when you clean your workbench.
It’s simple to slip into this trap when attempting to keep contamination risk minimal, but it’s tough to get out of. Such a situation has the potential to sabotage a whole experiment. Hence, it is much better if you choose to use an automated DNA extraction system.
- Time Consuming
Short incubation stages and centrifuge spins offer little walk-away time each run, and the necessity to prepare samples in batches eats up even more of your time. Purification might assist your lab members to make better use of their time if it is a regular component of their workflow.
On the other hand, automated nucleic acid extraction reduces errors that come in manual processes while increasing speed and productivity.
Conclusion
The issues listed above may have an influence on data quality and experimental results, either individually or in combination. If you work with nucleic acids, you’re well aware of how important purification is. Choosing an automated DNA extraction system will allow you to solve the issues that come with manual protocols. Automated nucleic acid extraction allows you to get consistent results, reduce mistakes, enhance speed and throughput, and give you more walk-away time to focus on other fascinating lab activities! In the long run, investing in an automated DNA extraction system may potentially save your lab money.
