Hey Gunes-Helene,

In general the columns are interchangeable. However, the silica matrix is adjusted to work optimally for the resepctive type of DNA, which has most often something to do with length. Additionally, the different matrices are tested according to the buffers being used for isolation. Lastly, the columns most often also differ in binding capacity.

See also the answer from Qiagen:

https://www.qiagen.com/ch/resources/faq?id=234b99d3-e9a0-441a-90b1-49a623c680c3&lang=en

I've interchangeably used PCR spin columns for those used for mini-prep spin columns and I've still managed to get a good yield. I think for a 1 kb DNA fragment, most columns should work well for you.

Hi Jürgen, Sourav and Yousuf,

Thank you very much for your clarifications. I'll keep in mind that column's names are just basic info for quick reference and I'll ask sellers for more specifications, including fragment length and binding capacity, in order to select the most appropriate one.

Thank you again!

Cheers

Günes-Hélène

i agree with sourva to put your self in the safe size you should use your kit buffer's columns . you can require it from the same kit's company .

Shimaa, thank you

Sadly, our budget can't accomodate the price of kits. The sheer number of purifications we will be doing shortly amounts to more than what we can afford In terms of kits. We have already compared the quality of our homemade purification buffers against a kit, and found no marked difference. Now we just need to redo the test with "off brand" columns and hope to get similarily good results.

Thanks to the answers here I was able to better understand the differences and now I know what I need. One of the problems with kits (in my humble opinion) is that "black box" feeling...you often don't really know what's happening. Although kits work, at our lab we prefer to be able to tweek things to better incorporate them in our tasks. And save money for the things that really can't be done otherwise. But that's just our lab's reality ;)