Review Article
Current Nucleic Acid Extraction Methods and Their Implications to Point-of-Care Diagnostics
Table 1
Main characteristics of chemical and mechanical methods to extract nucleic acid (adapted from Harrison 2003).
| Method | Technique | Principle | Mode of lysis | Cost | Most usual application | References |
| Chemical | Osmotic shock | Osmotic rupture of membrane | Gentle | Cheap | Spheroplasts and Protoplasts | [9] | Enzymatic digestion | Digestion of cell wall | Gentle | Cheap at small scale; expensive at large scale | Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria | [13] | Detergents | Solubilization of membranes | Gentle | Moderate | General use | [14] | Alkali treatment | Solubilization of membrane | Harsh | Cheap | Plasmid DNA | [15] |
| Mechanical | Homogenization (blade or pestle) | Shredding of cells | Moderate | Moderate (method of choice for large scale) | Animal tissues | [10] | Ultrasonication or cavitation | Disruption of cells by pressure | Harsh | Moderate to expensive | Good for spheroplasts but not primary cells | [11, 12] | Pressure cell (“French press”) | Disruption of cells by shear force | Harsh | Moderate | Used for Gram-negative and some Gram-positive bacteria | [6] | Ball mill | Cells crushed between glass/steel balls/beads | Harsh | Cheap | Used for bacteria, yeast, microalgae, unicellular animal cells | [15] |
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