Agencourt^® Chloropure System Isolates DNA and RNA From Plant Material

Beckman Coulter, Inc. introduced the Agencourt^® Chloropure System at the Plant and Animal Genome (PAG) and LabAutomation2008 Conferences last month. This new extraction kit for DNA and RNA isolation and purification from plant material delivers significantly higher recovery than other commercially available systems. The Agencourt Chloropure chemistry is automated on the Beckman Coulter Biomek^® NXP and FXP Laboratory Automation Workstations to process three 96-well plates in just 80 minutes.

At the recent Beckman Coulter workshop held at the PAG conference, David W. Still, Ph.D., of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, described his work in high-throughput gene expression profiling of lettuce and other composites. He presented a study comparing Agencourt Chloropure with another 96-well extraction kit. The results were verified using both the Beckman Coulter GenomeLab GeXP Genetic Analysis System and real-time qPCR*. "Our comparative genomics work requires huge numbers of genes and samples, and we must use high-throughput methods," explained Dr. Still. "With the Agencourt Chloropure chemistry, automated on Beckman Coulter robotics, we got great RNA preps with high yields and there was no contamination with genomic DNA or organic solvents."

Agencourt Chloropure incorporates the patented Agencourt SPRI^® (Solid Phase Reversible Immobilization) paramagnetic bead-based nucleic acid purification technology, which does not require organic solvents, vacuum filtration or centrifugation steps. A complete turnkey solution is also offered, incorporating Beckman Coulter's sample preparation technology and GenomeLab GeXP Genetic Analysis System.

"Plant research is a growing field worldwide with users in agri-biotech, biofuels and academia," commented Todd Lombardo, senior product manager for Agencourt. "The Agencourt Chloropure system provides an ideal solution for downstream PCR applications."

Agencourt Bioscience Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Beckman Coulter, is a leading provider of nucleic acid purification products and genomic services for life science research. The company's products and services are based on the patented Agencourt SPRI (Solid Phase Reversible Immobilization) paramagnetic bead-based technology.

*The PCR process is covered by patents owned by Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., and F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd.