Performance comparison of commercial RNA extraction kits for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2: A laboratory perspective

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increased need for molecular diagnostics. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction is a crucial step in the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2). The resulting outcome depends on the performance of the RNA extraction kit used.Methods: This study evaluated the efficiency of four different commercial RNA extraction kits for the detection of SARS-COV 2. The reproducibility and performance efficiency of each kit were assessed and compared. The performance, processing time and storage conditions were also considered in the evaluation.Results: A slightly lesser cycle threshold (Ct) values were observed in RNA extracted using HiPurA Viral RNA Purification Kit. Invitrogen PureLink RNA Mini Kit was found to be time-saving and user-friendly.Conclusions: All the RNA isolation kit yielded the best results; however, if time is the important considerations, Invitrogen PureLink RNA Mini Kit has the shortest processing time.