Fully Automated Nucleic Acid Extraction: MagNA Pure LC

Kinetic PCR analysis by real-time monitoring of DNA amplification was first described 8 years ago (1). Recently, the LightCyclerTM instrument (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Mannheim, Germany), which allows high-speed thermal cycling by use of air instead of thermal blocks and on-line real-time fluorescence monitoring, was introduced (2). Several reports have been published with regard to utilization of the LightCycler technology for detection of pathogens (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). Real-time PCR has greatly decreased the amount of hands-on time needed to generate and detect amplification products. Before amplification, pathogen-specific DNA or RNA must be extracted from the specimen. This procedure, also called sample preparation, remains the most labor-intensive and time-consuming part of widely automated molecular assays and may be considered the major weakness in most molecular assays today (12)(13). Therefore, a fully automated sample preparation system is urgently needed for the routine diagnostic laboratory. In this study, a fully automated specimen preparation instrument, the MagNA Pure LCTM (Roche) was evaluated. The new instrument was used for extraction of herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA in combination with real-time PCR on the LightCycler instrument.