Method of nucleic acid extraction
First Claim
1. A method of extracting nucleic acids from cells comprising the steps:
- (a) creating a lysate by treating said cells with proteinase K in the presence of a lysis buffer;
(b) mixing said lysate with a phenol-based solvent system, thereby creating an emulsion;
(c) heating said emulsion to a temperature greater than 35 degrees C. in the absence of mixing action and without centrifugation to promote separation of said emulsion into an aqueous phase containing said nucleic acids and an organic phase containing phenol and denatured proteins;
(d) removing said organic phase to leave a remaining aqueous phase containing said nucleic acids.
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Abstract
An automated apparatus is provided which implements a new method of extracting and purifying nucleic acids from cells without the use of centrifugation. In the method, a lysate is created by treating the cells with proteinase K in the presence of a lysis buffer having a high concentration of a salt. The lysate is mixed with a phenol-based solvent system, thereby creating an emulsion. The emulsion is heated to promote phase separation. Similarly, the rate of phase separation is also enhanced by increasing the surface area of the emulsion. Once the phase separation is complete, the lower organic phase is removed and the upper aqueous phase is repeatedly extracted with the phenol-based solvent a preselected number of times, and is finally extracted using chloroform. The remaining aqueous phase is then dialyzed to further purify and concentrate the nucleic acid solution. Two preferred embodiments of apparatus are presented to accomplish this extraction.
38 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of extracting nucleic acids from cells comprising the steps:
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(a) creating a lysate by treating said cells with proteinase K in the presence of a lysis buffer; (b) mixing said lysate with a phenol-based solvent system, thereby creating an emulsion; (c) heating said emulsion to a temperature greater than 35 degrees C. in the absence of mixing action and without centrifugation to promote separation of said emulsion into an aqueous phase containing said nucleic acids and an organic phase containing phenol and denatured proteins; (d) removing said organic phase to leave a remaining aqueous phase containing said nucleic acids. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification