Comparison of Automated Nucleic Acid Purification Systems on High Molecular Weight (HMW) DNA Extraction Efficiency

With automation being increasingly employed in laboratories performing nucleic acid purification, a more consistent quality of nucleic acids is generally expected. A high quality of should also be obtainable with automation to meet requirements of demanding downstream assays such as NGS, long read sequencing, and MLPA, while ensuring long-term storage stability. However, differences in mechanical processes and kit chemistries between commercial automation platforms may result in varying qualities of nucleic acid which can impact downstream results. Here, we evaluated two systems of magnetic bead-based automated nucleic acid purification using blood samples. High molecular weight DNA acid quality was assessed in terms of yield and purity. Integrity of DNA as seen by the extraction efficiency of HMW DNA was also assessed.

Extraction performance from blood based on DNA yield, purity, and integrity (DNA length) was compared between two automated nucleic acid extraction systems. The chemagic™ 360 instrument extracted pure DNA at higher yields and integrity with chemagic™ DNA Blood 400 Kit H96 (CMG-1091) or chemagic™ DNA Blood 4k Kit H24 (CMG-1074). A greater HMW DNA extraction efficiency was obtained with the chemagic™ 360 instrument that can improve performance in long-read sequencing as well as long-term storage stability.