Comparison of different methods for the isolation of Burkholderia cepacia DNA from pure cultures and waste water

DNA from Burkholderia cepacia was prepared from suspensions of pure culture s and artificially contaminated waste water. The efficacy of four standard methods (lysis buffer containing proteinase K, phenol/chloroform/isoamylalc ohoI extraction, microwave treatment, heat treatment) and six commercially available kits (Puregene (R), High Pure PCR Template Preparation Kit (R), I nstaGene (R), QIAamp Tissue Kit (R), DNAzol (R), Elu-Quik (R)) was compared in terms of sensitivity in a subsequent PCR. The results showed that a sim ple and inexpensive procedure using a lysis buffer containing proteinase K was superior to all other methods tested.