A comparison of commercially-available automated and manual extraction kits for the isolation of total RNA from small tissue samples

Table 1 Descriptions of the five commercial kits selected for inclusion in this study

Kit name (Catalog #)	General description	Kit specifications	Cost/sample (USD)^d
Qiagen RNeasy® Plus Mini (#74134)	Manual Operation^a; Guanidine-isothiocyanate lysis, Silica membrane-based RNA purification, Non-enzymatic DNA elimination	Tissue Mass: ≤30 mg	$6.02
Qiagen RNeasy® Plus Mini (#74134)		Minimum Elution Volume: 30 μL^c	$6.02
Qiagen RNeasy® Plus Universal Mini (#73404)	Manual Operation^a; Phenol-guanidine lysis, Silica membrane-based RNA purification, Non-enzymatic DNA elimination	Tissue Mass: ≤50 mg	$6.86
Qiagen RNeasy® Plus Universal Mini (#73404)		Minimum Elution Volume: 30 μL^c	$6.86
Promega Maxwell® 16 LEV simplyRNA Purification (#AS1280)	Automated Operation; Guanidine-thiocyanate lysis, Paramagnetic bead-based RNA purification, Enzymatic DNA elimination	Tissue Mass: ≤50 mg	$5.25
Promega Maxwell® 16 LEV simplyRNA Purification (#AS1280)		Minimum Elution Volume: 30 μL^c	$5.25
Ambion MagMAX™-96 Total RNA Isolation (#AM1830)	Automated Operation^b; Guanidinium thiocyanate-based lysis, Magnetic bead-based RNA purification, Enzymatic DNA elimination	Tissue Mass: ≤5 mg	$3.19
Ambion MagMAX™-96 Total RNA Isolation (#AM1830)		Minimum Elution Volume: 20 μL	$3.19
Promega SimplyRNA HT System (Beta test kit^e)	Automated Operation; Guanidine-thiocyanate lysis, Paramagnetic bead-based RNA purification, Enzymatic DNA elimination	Tissue Mass: 5-300 mg	$3.50-5.25
Promega SimplyRNA HT System (Beta test kit^e)		Minimum Elution Volume: 30 μL	$3.50-5.25

^aThis kit can be automated on the Qiagen QIAcube robotic workstation.
^bThis kit can be used manually.
^cFor the Plus Mini, Plus Universal and Maxwell® kits, an elution volume of 30 μL was used for RNA extracted from blood, embryos and larvae, while an elution volume of 50 μL was used for RNA isolated from spleens and kidneys. Elution volumes for all tissues extracted via the MagMAX™ and SimplyRNA HT kits were 55 and 50 μL, respectively.
^dList price in June 2013; Prices are for the kits only and do not include the costs of equipment and reagents not supplied with the kit.
^eBeta test kit of a new 96-well format high throughput, RNA purification system. Final specifications in development.

ISSN: 1472-6750