Nucleic Acid Extraction from Mus musculus Tissues Using the Bead Ruptor Elite and Stainless Steel Lysing Grinding Tubes

The use of animal models in biomedical research often relies on fresh tissue samples for the evaluation and use of DNA and RNA in downstream molecular applications. The process of nucleic acid extraction from fresh tissues is implemented prior to molecular applications like qPCR, RT-PCR and Next Gen Sequencing in these studies. Extracted nucleic acids can be utilized in identifying genes of interest relating to disease pathology, pharmaceutical and genomic modification analysis. For those reasons, it is crucial that high quality DNA and RNA is obtained during the extraction process to ensure the efficacy and accuracy of experiments and results. 

To retrieve nucleic acid from fresh tissue samples, the samples must be disrupted through a process such as mechanical homogenization. Through mechanical homogenization the sample anatomy is disrupted and many of the cells are lysed to expose metabolites and nucleic acids contained within the cells. This lysis step can be difficult depending on tissue consistency and methodology used. Commonly used lysis methods including enzymatic digestion or manual homogenization can be time consuming and inadequate processes. 

Implementing the Omni Bead Ruptor™ Elite bead mill homogenizer for the lysis steps provides an effective approach to disrupt tissue samples, while decreasing total processing time. Additionally, stainless steel lysing/grinding tubes and grinding cylinder provides durability to withstand cryogenic sample preparation along with homogenization of your toughest samples. 

Herein, we evaluate the stainless steel lysing/grinding tubes and grinding cylinder, along with the Omni Bead Ruptor Elite bead mill homogenizer, to prepare tissue samples for isolation of pure and intact nucleic acid.

Figure 2, Table 3: Gel Electrophoresis & Spectrophotometric data obtained from Tissue RNA eluate showing concentration and A260/ A280 values.