| Technology | Magnetic bead technology |
| Format | Highly reactive superparamagnetic beads |
| Processing | Manual or automated |
| Starting material | Swabs (cotton or synthetic) |
| Sample amount | 300 µl reconstituted swab lysate |
| Fragment size | >300 bp–approximately 50 kb (depending on sample processing) |
| Typical yield | 1–3 µg DNA (depending on sample amount and quality) |
| Typical concentration | 10–30 ng/µl |
| Typical A260/280 | 1.6–1.9 |
| Elution volume | 50–100 µl |
| Preparation time | 120 min/96 preps (manual preparation) 30 min/96 preps (automated on KingFisher Flex; excluding lysis) |
| Theoretical binding capacity | 0.4 μg/μl beads |
Product Overview
NucleoMag DNA Swab
The NucleoMag DNA Swab kit is designed for isolation of genomic DNA (human and/or microbial) from a wide variety of swab specimens, including dental, nasopharyngeal, and vaginal swabs as well as other samples, such as cigarette filters and dried blood spots. The kit is compatible with commonly used cotton swabs as well as synthetic swabs (e.g., flocked swabs) and may be used to prepare samples for high-throughput genetic testing. The NucleoMag DNA Swab kit can be used either manually or on automated liquid-handling instruments (such as Hamilton, Tecan, and Eppendorf platforms) and magnetic separators (such as the KingFisher Duo and Flex).
The kit procedure is based on reversible adsorption of nucleic acids to highly reactive superparamagnetic beads. Highly pure DNA is eluted with a low-salt elution buffer and can be used directly for downstream applications such as qPCR, NGS, or STR analysis, as well as any kind of enzymatic reaction. Application data for high-throughput genomic DNA isolation from diverse swab samples demonstrates high yields and sensitive qPCR detection (Figures 1 and 2 below, respectively).
The NucleoMag DNA Swab kit offers the following benefits:
- High-throughput DNA isolation for genetic testing
- Developed for cotton as well as synthetic swabs
- Small elution volumes—as low as 50 µl
- Suitable for manual or automated processing
At-a-glance
Application data
Figure 1. Human genomic DNA yield and qPCR performance from different swab types. Buccal swabs (standard cotton swabs and COPAN FLOQSwabs) were collected from >6 individuals. Lysates were prepared using NucleoSpin Forensic Filters. DNA was isolated on a KingFisher Flex platform according to the NucleoMag DNA Swab standard protocol. qPCR performance was evaluated using the Quantifiler Human DNA Quantification assay.
Figure 2. Sensitive detection of bacterial DNA in human specimens. DNA was isolated from mouth swabs on a KingFisher Flex platform. qPCR targeting a bacterial 16S RNA gene demonstrates the sensitive detection of bacteria from swab specimens.
Over thirty human pathogens have been isolated from swabs with the NucleoMag DNA Swab kit and successfully detected by qPCR, including:
| Species | Pathogen type | Ct value |
|---|---|---|
| Acetinobacter baumanii | Gram negative bacteria | 23.05 |
| Atopobium vaginae | Gram positive bacteria | 19.92 |
| Bacteriodes fragilis | Gram negative bacteria | 21.66 |
| Candida albicans | Fungal | 27.78 |
| Candida dubliniensis | Fungal | 24.87 |
| Candida glabrata | Fungal | 25.89 |
| Candida krusei | Fungal | 17.76 |
| Candida lusitaniae | Fungal | 20.41 |
| Candida parapsilosis | Fungal | 26.94 |
| Candida tropicalis | Fungal | 20.19 |
| Chlamydia trachomatis | Gram negative bacteria | 24.31, 23.90 |
| Citrobacter freundii | Gram negative bacteria | 22.78 |
| Enterococcus faecalis | Gram positive bacteria | 22.27 |
| Escherichia coli | Gram negative bacteria | 26.05 |
| Gardnerella vaginalis | Gram negative and gram positive bacteria | 16.79 |
| Herpes simplex type 1 | dsDNA virus | 27.92, 27.44 |
| Herpes simplex type 2 | dsDNA virus | 21.60, 21.49 |
| Klebsiella oxytoca | Gram negative bacteria | 26.86 |
| Lactobacillus jensenii | Gram positive bacteria | 15.30 |
| Mobiluncus mulieris | Gram negative and gram positive bacteria | 27.75 |
| Morganella morganii | Gram negative bacteria | 23.14 |
| Mycoplasma genitalium | Mycobacteria | 15.33, 15.17 |
| Mycoplasma hominis | Mycobacteria | 22.72 |
| Neisseria gonorrhoeae | Gram negative bacteria | 14.93, 14.91 |
| Prevotella bivia | Gram negative bacteria | 24.48 |
| Proteus mirabilis | Gram negative bacteria | 22.81 |
| Proteus vulgaris | Gram negative bacteria | 23.10 |
| Providencia stuartii | Gram negative bacteria | 22.90 |
| Pseudomonas aeruginosa | Gram negative bacteria | 18.56 |
| Serratia marcescens | Gram negative bacteria | 24.13 |
| Staphylococcus aureus | Gram positive bacteria | 22.50 |
| Staphylococcus saprophyticus | Gram positive bacteria | 24.63 |
| Streptococcus agalactiae | Gram positive bacteria | 23.06 |
| Trichomonas vaginalis | Protozoan | 24.84, 25.20 |
Note: An additional pre-digestion step with Lysis Buffer FLB and Liquid Proteinase K significantly improves the lysis of some pathogens—particularly yeast—and may be required for positive results.
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