Validation and rapid extraction of nucleic acids from alcohol-preserved ticks

✍ Scribed by M. J. Hubbard; K. J. Cann; D. J. M. Wright

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 377 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0168-8162
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00048266

✦ Synopsis

Ixodidae and Argasidae). The method combines the lysing property of the chaotropic agent guanidinium thiocyanate (GuSCN) and the nucleic acid-binding property of diatomaceous earth (fossilized cell walls of unicellular algae). Debris from the tick is removed in several sequential washing steps. To monitor the efficiency of this method, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was designed to amplify the 16S mt rRNA gene of five tick genera (Dermacentor Fabricius, Haemaphysalis Koch, Rhipicephalus Koch, Argas Latreille and Ixodes Latreille). Detection of amplification products from this PCR indicated that DNA had been successfully extracted and that Taq-polymerase inhibitors were absent. The extraction method, therefore, enables purification of DNA such that enzymatic analysis is possible.