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A method suitable for DNA extraction from humus-rich soil

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Abstract

A rapid and convenient method for extracting DNA from soil is presented. Soil DNA is extracted by direct cell lysis in the presence of EDTA, SDS, phenol, chloroform and isoamyl alcohol (3-methyl-1-butanol) followed by precipitation with 2-propanol. The extracted DNA is purified by modified DNA purification kit and DNA gel extraction kit. With this method, DNA extracted from humus-rich dark brown forest soil was free from humic substances and, therefore, could be used for efficient PCR amplification and restriction digestion. In contrast, DNA sample extracted with the traditional CTAB-based method had lower yield and purity, and no DNA could be extracted from the same soil sample with a commonly-used commercial soil DNA isolation kit. In addition, this method is time-saving and convenient, providing an efficient choice especially for DNA extraction from humus-rich soils.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundations of China (No. 31100045 and No. 31270114) and Program for Liaoning Excellent Talents in University (No. LJQ2011067).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Shenyang Agricultural University, No. 120 Dongling Road, Shenyang, 110161, People’s Republic of China

    Tianjin Miao, Song Gao, Guoshi Kan, Pengju Liu, Xianming Wu, Yingfeng An & Shuo Yao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China

    Shengwei Jiang

Authors
  1. Tianjin Miao
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  2. Song Gao
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  3. Shengwei Jiang
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  4. Guoshi Kan
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  5. Pengju Liu
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  6. Xianming Wu
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  7. Yingfeng An
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  8. Shuo Yao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yingfeng An.

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Miao, T., Gao, S., Jiang, S. et al. A method suitable for DNA extraction from humus-rich soil. Biotechnol Lett 36, 2223–2228 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1591-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1591-5

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