Hello everyone, we are doing a nucleic acid extraction using magnetic beads from upper respiratory tract swab sample collected in VTM. Some "random" samples (VTM) when mixed with lysis buffer and magnetic beads shows clumping (aggregation) of magnetic beads and poor nucleic acid extraction. Can someone help me understand what causes these random samples to form clumping of magnetic beads ? How to prevent the clumping of magnetic beads?
We have been facing similar problem during magnetic bead based extraction. Probable reason could be the presence of mucus in the respiratory samples. We found such clumping only among respiratory samples that have mucus.
Probable solution: Process sample with special precaution and try to avoid mucus while sample adding from vial.
Thank you Mojnu for the answer, Sure I will check the sample viscosity and presence of mucus in the sample.
Due to the composition of the medium. The beads react with the components of the sample ( and they clung to the nucleotides). This means by adding like agarose to the medium, you will obtain lose nucleotides ( beads with agarose)
Hi Mª Angeles Zorrilla Lopez-Perea Thank you so much for the answer. What concentration of Agarose do you recommend ??. You mentioned "medium" - you mean sample extraction buffer/lysis buffer ? looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks
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