Bio-On-Magnetic-Beads (BOMB): Open platform for high-throughput nucleic acid extraction and manipulation

Oberacker, P.; Stepper, P.; Bond, D. M.; Hohn, S.; Focken, J.; Meyer, V.; Schelle, L.; Sugrue, V. J.; Jeunen, G.-J.; Moser, T.; Hore, S. R.; von Meyenn, F.; Hipp, K.; Hore, T. A.; Jurkowski, T. P.

doi:10.1101/414516

bioRxiv · 10.1101/414516

Bio-On-Magnetic-Beads (BOMB): Open platform for high-throughput nucleic acid extraction and manipulation

Oberacker, P.·Stepper, P.·Bond, D. M.·Hohn, S.·Focken, J.·Meyer, V.·Schelle, L.·Sugrue, V. J.·Jeunen, G.-J.·Moser, T.·Hore, S. R.·von Meyenn, F.·Hipp, K.·Hore, T. A.·Jurkowski, T. P.

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Abstract

Current molecular biology laboratories rely heavily on the purification and manipulation of nucleic acids. Yet, commonly used centrifuge-and column-based protocols require specialised equipment, often use toxic reagents and are not economically scalable or practical to use in a high-throughput manner. Although it has been known for some time that magnetic beads can provide an elegant answer to these issues, the development of open-source protocols based on beads has been limited. In this article, we provide step-by-step instructions for an easy synthesis of functionalised magnetic beads, and detailed protocols for their use in the high-throughput purification of plasmids, genomic DNA and total RNA from different sources, as well as environmental TNA and PCR amplicons. We also provide a bead-based protocol for bisulfite conversion, and size selection of DNA and RNA fragments. Comparison to other methods highlights the capability, versatility and extreme cost-effectiveness of using magnetic beads. These open source protocols and the associated webpage (https://bomb.bio) can serve as a platform for further protocol customisation and community engagement.

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Oberacker, P., Stepper, P., Bond, D. M., Hohn, S., Focken, J., Meyer, V., Schelle, L., Sugrue, V. J., Jeunen, G.-J., Moser, T., Hore, S. R., von Meyenn, F., Hipp, K., Hore, T. A., Jurkowski, T. P.. 2018-09-12. Bio-On-Magnetic-Beads (BOMB): Open platform for high-throughput nucleic acid extraction and manipulation. https://doi.org/10.1101/414516

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