Extraction of viral RNA from tissue samples is a critical method used in confirming the presence of a suspected viral infection. With viral infections on the rise globally, researchers and clinicians from all sectors have turned their focus to increasing research on virally induced pathologies.
Additionally, these samples were processed using the Omni Bead Ruptor Elite bead mill homogenizer, reducing the time needed for the initial homogenization steps of RNA kit extractions by half. This semi-automated sample preparation step increased throughput of traditional spin column RNA extraction protocols allowing for processing up to 24 samples in 30 seconds, where traditional methods require up to 24 minutes for the same procedure.
Use of the Omni Bead Ruptor Elite bead mill homogenizer to prepare viral lysates ahead of RNA extraction resulted in increased viral RNA product yield as detected by RT-qPCR, suggesting that low concentration samples may be detectable. Through amplification of the nucleocapsid gene of HCoV-229E from tissue culture supernatant, we demonstrated an increased efficiency and efficacy of bead mill homogenization over vortex homogenization when conducting viral RNA extractions using traditional spin column kits.
Figure 1B: RT-qPCR results for HCoV-229E nucleocapsid gene showing the quantified Cq results for each of the homogenization parameters tested in triplicate.