A CHROMATOGRAPHIC PROCEDURE FOR FULLY AUTOMATED ISOLATION OF DNA FROMHUMAN WHOLE-BLOOD

Isolation of DNA from peripheral blood constitutes a fundamental step in the molecular diagnosis of genetic disorders, analysis of mutations of oncogenes and detection of nucleic-acid sequences of pathogenic or ganisms in clinical samples. We investigated whether dextran sedimenta tion of blood followed by the chromatographic isolation of DNA could b e applied to the Biomek-1000 automated laboratory workstation in order to develop a fully automated method of DNA isolation from whole blood . Under our experimental conditions, the Biomek-1000 could perform ful ly automated DNA isolation from seven human whole blood samples in les s than 1.5 h. Our data indicate that the DNA isolated from human blood in this way is suitable for polymerase chain reaction.