Microbial ecology and diversity studies are necessary to understand biodiversity, changes in the environment and to know the present and past changes in microbial community. Soil is an important part of Earth’s Biodiversity. The microorganisms present in soil play a critical role in balancing the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycle in the atmosphere to taking the entire responsibility of plant health and ecosystem functioning. Unsurprisingly a very high microbial bio-diversity is present in the soil. 1g of soil is home for an estimated 1, 00,000 to 10, 00,000 different species of archaea and bacteria.
Difficulties in Soil DNA extraction
To understand the complexities in microbial community, the initial step is DNA isolation.
In traditional culture dependent methods the microbes were first cultured in lab environment and then their DNA is extracted for further downstream analysis. But this method is highly flawed because only 1% of total soil microbial species can be cultured in lab.
This led to the idea of isolating DNA directly from the source, in this case soil, however it comes with its own challenges. DNA isolation from soil is complicated due to its heterogeneous make up. The hard nature of the soil makes lysis difficult, resulting in low DNA yield. The presence of many contaminants in soil such as humic acid also interfere with DNA purification.
Fortunately, DNA extraction technology have evolved over time to accommodate these challenges and to purify DNA from a wide range of environmental sample. The right kit or method chosen should also be able to assist in metagenomics research.
Why Metagenomics
Metagenomics is the culture independent method of studying the microbial population in the environment. Metagenomics can fill the gap that culture-dependent approaches missed by extracting DNA straight from an environmental sample and capturing the genetic material of the complete microbial population within.
This has opened doors for new disciplines in scientific community and applied to many areas such as
- Biofuel
- Agriculture
- Ecology
- Environmental Remediation
- Medicine
For any metagenomics study, obtaining a consistent, high-quality extraction for your environmental samples is critical.
Our XpressDNA Soil kit is designed to offer precise protocol for delivering high purity and high yield DNA from a range of environmental samples.
XpressDNA soil kit
Our XpressDNA soil kit is designed for purification of high quality microbial DNA from a wide variety of soil samples including extreme environmental samples like deep sea soil.
With our developed a patented magnetic nanoparticles-based technology and a combination of chemical and mechanical disruption methods results in efficient lysis of all microorganisms including gram positive , negative and fungal species.
Our optimized protocol is relatively simple to execute by first preparing a lysate using our lysis buffer, followed by a DNA binding step using our specially formulated and patented magnetic nanoparticle mix. The bound DNA is immobilised with the help of our “MagNA Stand” made up of six rare strong earth magnets. After a brief washing step, ultra-pure DNA can be easily eluted in a fresh tube at the end of the procedure.
We don’t follow the bead beating step, hence minimizing yield loss to a great extent. Our method is carefully optimized to eliminate humic acid leaving high quality genomic DNA for downstream applications. The highlight of our kit is the efficient inhibitor removal technology makes this the prime kit for metagenomics research projects. Our kits are tried and tested on marshy soil, paddy soil, forest soil and many more.
Get in touch with us for more information about XpressDNA soil Kit and also check out other ranges of products in XpressDNA