Improvement of Sample Preparation with the Bead-Beating Technology in Genomics Plants Studies

In the context of sample preparation and cell lysis, Bertin Technologies (France) has developed a technology dedicated to the homogenization, lysis and grinding of soft to hard materials. The goal is to improve the first critical step in any genomic analysis & molecular biology process and follow the latest requirements of analysis equipment which have radically improved in terms of throughput, reproducibility, detection limits and linearity.

Following specific mechanical engineering studies of bead beating technology, a high speed figure-8 multidirectional motion gives shaking energy to the beads that grind/homogenize samples in 2 mL, 7mL sealed vials. This patented solution Precellys24 plays a large part in the analyse chain of rapid method to extract and detect or quantify DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids or drugs. Thanks to Cryolys option, temperature inside Precellys24 tubes is maintained at an optimal level during homogenization. Cryolys technology permits temperature-sensitive molecules to keep their native state for any analysis.

Bertin and its partners have been investigating mechanical lysis with the Precellys bead beater vs. manual, chemical or sonicator methods. Two applications illustrate the contribution of this equipment to optimize samples preparation for genomics plants studies: DNA extraction from rice grain and Mycoviral double-stranded RNA extraction from green pepper (Capsicum annum) leaf and Malabar spinach (Basella alba) leaf.

Bead beating technology was successfully evaluated in these applications and satisfied users in term of efficiency without degradation of the material, reproducibility, time and labour saving that are mains items to consider.