
Isolating nucleic acids from saliva and buccal swabs has become increasingly popular in recent years. Sample collection is easy, safe, and non-invasive, and collection kits can be mailed to donors for self-collection at home if required.
The method of DNA extraction is crucial to the yield and quality of the sample, with high purity DNA required for sensitive downstream analyses such as next generation sequencing, but cruder lysate preparations suitable for PCR.
Historically, the problem with isolating DNA from saliva and buccal swabs over other sample such as blood was low yields and microbial contamination, but improvements in sample collection protocols and devices have solved these issues. To accommodate different sampling protocols, equipment availability, downstream analyses, and storage requirements, Isohelix has developed a number of different extraction kits based on alternative chemistries. Users can select the most appropriate kit for their requirements, allowing them to achieve the best results with their particular application.