Review Article

Current Nucleic Acid Extraction Methods and Their Implications to Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Table 2

Summary of advantages and disadvantages of the main NAE methods. GuSCN, guanidine thiocyanate; CsCl, cesium chloride; EtBr, ethidium bromide; CTAB, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide.

Method Advantage DisadvantageReference

(1) GuSCN-phenol- chloroform extractionHigh purity and yield of DNA or RNAHazardous chemicals[21, 23]
(2) Alkaline extractionFastest, reliable, and relatively easy procedureMedium purity and fragmentation of genomic DNA[26]
(3) CsCl gradient centrifugation with EtBrHigh purity and yield of DNA or RNALaborious, costly and time consuming,[29, 30]
(4) Oligo(dT) cellulose chromatographyFast protocol, good yield of mRNA recoveryPurification bias for mRNAs[1]
(5) Chelex® extractionQuick and simple protocol; no use of hazardous chemicalsLow purity of nucleic acids[35, 36]
(6) CTAB extractionEfficient method for plant and other “hard to lyse” samplesLaborious, time-consuming; use of hazardous chemicals[38]