Development of Nucleic Acid Extraction Technology and Its Product Strategy

OVERVIEW: After sequencing the entire human genome, researchers are now turning their attention to clinical gene testing and analysis to explain gene function and differences among individuals. To research and to test genetic material, efficient and simplified techniques to extract nucleic acid from blood samples are essential. Hitachi has developed a new aspiratedischarge method, which incorporates silica, to extract nucleic acid from the whole blood. A nucleic acid sample under specified conditions is repeatedly aspirated and discharged inside a syringe using a silica carrier that is immobilized in a wet state. The byproduct of this method is a blood genome extraction kit that directly extracts nucleic acid from one to 10 mL of the whole blood without leukocyte separation. The kit achieves an average extraction rate of 91%. The extracted nucleic acid can then be used directly for subsequent gene analysis and testing. In addition, the kit does not have lower extraction efficiency when a frozen blood sample is used. Toshinari Sakurai Kenko Uchida Norihito Kuno Yoshihiro Nagaoka