New Approaches in the Binding of DNA for Clinical Applications

Abstract

DNA, the template coding for the proteins associated with all cellular functions (1) , interests biochemists and, more recently, molecular biologists. With emerging opportunities in gene therapy (2) , an understanding of the host genome is necessary if the defective gene is to be replaced by a corrected one. This requires not only the therapeutic gene but also a probe for identifying patients expressing the defective gene and subsequently monitoring the efficacy of the treatment. This aspect of gene screening is a growing area in molecular diagnostics and may depend on a need to isolate host genomic DNA from clinical samples. Similarly, in genetic screening in forensics and human reference data, the move to construct databases (3) produces a requirement to isolate the host genomic DNA from a biological sample such as blood, bacteria, and cells in tissue culture. Isolation of DNA involves four discreet stages: ( a ) cell disruption to release nuclear material, ( b ) selective purification of the DNA-containing fraction, typically using precipitation of contaminants and digestion of RNA, ( c ) adsorption of the DNA to a solid support, and ( d ) selective desorption of the DNA and elution from the matrix. The eluted DNA may then be used for applications such as PCR, sequencing, or other analytical techniques. …