Purifying genomic DNA from whole blood on automated, high-throughput, and moderate-throughput platforms

We describe three new automated methods for purifying genomic DNA from whole blood. The MagneSil^® Blood Genomic, Max Yield System uses MagneSil^® paramagnetic particles (PMPs) in a 96-well format to purify the maximal amount of DNA from a 200-μL blood sample. In contrast, the MagneSil^® ONE, Fixed Yield Blood Genomic System uses MagneSil^® Fixed Yield PMPs to purify a normalized amount of DNA from 60 μL of blood in a 96-well format. These methods are implemented on the Beckman Coulter Biomek^® FX automated workstation. The MagneSil^® KF Genomic System uses MagneSil^® PMPs to purify DNA from 1 to 15 samples of 200-μL blood using the moderate-throughput Thermo Electron KingFisher^® mL instrument.The MagneSil^® Blood Genomic System typically yields > 4 μg per 200 μL of whole blood, depending on the white blood cell content. The MagneSil^® ONE System is best suited where there is a requirement for purification of a narrow concentration range of DNA. This system purifies 1 μg (±50%) of DNA from 60 μL of blood. The MagneSil^® KF System purifies 2 to 6 μg of DNA from 200 μL of blood. DNA purified using all of these methods is suitable for PCR, STR, READIT^® SNP genotype analysis, and multiplexed PCR analysis.