A nuclease is an enzyme that degrades nucleic acids; DNase is a nuclease that degrades DNA. It is not as prevalent as RNase but it is still a big concern of molecular biologists, especially those working with very small quantities of rare DNA. Experimentation and applications involving DNA are used in just about every area of Biotechnology and the Life Sciences. Since DNA is the starting point of many of the applications and experiments, the need for DNase Free products is critical.

The DNase Free Certification allows you to sell your products to such markets as gene therapy firms, pharmaceutical companies, chemical companies, molecular biologists and DNA diagnostics firms. This certification shows your end user that you care about the success and integrity of their work and that you are working hard to provide them a quality product.

Common sources of DNase are found in human contact, saliva and bacteria from non-sterile environments. Sometimes talking is all that is needed to contaminate a product.

By certifying your products with our DNase Free Certification test you gain the ability to uphold your product claims with documented product testing that you can make available to your end user in the form of Certificates of Analysis for each lot tested.

DNase Test Method

All testing apparatus are treated with Diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC) to inhibit possible DNase contamination of the experiment from outside sources. Test samples of the product are extracted and a portion of extract is incubated with DNA standard (1 kb DNA ladder) in a buffered solution. Negative and positive controls are run along side the test sample extract to validate the experimental procedure and technique. An unexposed DNA standard is used as the negative control. A DNA standard is exposed to DNase is used to represent the positive control.

All samples are incubated 1 hour at 37^oC. After the incubation, the reactions are evaluated by agarose gel electrophoresis and a picture for the Certification of Analysis and final report is taken. The test samples and the negative control should show no degradation. The positive control should be very smeared, indicating the effect of DNase contamination on the DNA standard pool that is used for all the reactions.

Passing test criteria: The DNA exposed to the test sample or extract must look exactly the same as the DNA negative control that was exposed to sterile water. The negative control must be completely intact with no degradation. The positive control must show degradation of the DNA standard for the test to be valid.

Test Sensitivity: 10^-7 Kunitz Units/ µl.

How To Begin Certifying Your Products DNase Free

To begin certifying your product DNase Free, a sample of the product must be received by our Services Division to evaluate how best to extract your particular product for testing. Once an extraction procedure is approved, it is used each time that product is received for testing.

Many products will fit one of our pre-designed extraction procedures, such as microcentrifuge tubes, PCR tubes, pipet tips and PCR plates. However, not all products are the same, thus all products are evaluated on an individual basis. Liquid solutions and reagents as well as solids, due to the diversity of these products, require a separate test procedure to be designed each time a product of this type is submitted.

To begin the testing process, Click Here.

You and your company decide upon a testing schedule that best fits the needs of your particular product. MO BIO Laboratories, Inc. can work with you to design a testing schedule that accomplishes this goal. Click here for more information.

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Download an Excel file to submit your samples for testing by MO BIO.

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