DNA purification is an important step in a process of sample preparation that eliminates enzymes, salts and other contaminants from lysed samples and PCR products before subsequent applications like cloning and sequencing. It also removes unwanted PCR-induced artefacts, such as primer dimers as well as nucleotides that have not been integrated. DNA purification is a crucial stage in molecular biological research that requires careful planning in order to obtain high quality, reliable results.

There are many different methods to purifying DNA. Traditional DNA isolation methods require many steps including leukocyte isolation or red blood cell lysis in order to remove heme proteins that inhibit the PCR reaction, deproteinization and treatment of RNAse, ethanol and isopropanol precipitation, and then DNA elution. A majority of these procedures require specially designed equipment, like an electrophoresis machine and a biosafety cabinet due to the dangerous intercalating dyes used in the electrophoresis gel.

Other methods for purifying DNA use spin columns or 96 well filter plates to separate out contamination by adsorbing them to the surface of the plate or column. These techniques can be very time-consuming, particularly when working with large amounts of samples or when the columns need to be filled manually with fresh reagents.

Dipsticks cut down the number of sample processing steps from six to three. They bind nucleic acids using waxy cellulose-based materials and release them once water is present. This method is especially beneficial in low-resource settings, like remote field sites and teaching labs. Its simplicity and speed (30 seconds for each sample) makes it https://mpsciences.com/2021/04/23/dna-purification-processes-for-different-applications/ ideal for molecular diagnostics like diagnosis as well as genotype screening and heterozygosity testing.