Method for releasing RNA and DNA from cells

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In a broad aspect, the method of the present invention is based on the surprising discovery that cells in solution with small beads in a container, when exposed to sonication in, for example, an ultrasound bath, disrupt, causing release of their cellular components into the solution within a container which can be closed if necessary.
Among those cellular components whose release is facilitated by the method of the present invention are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).
Certain types of cells have proven to be very difficult to break open.
One such type of cell, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a rod shaped bacterium (bacillus) with a dense cell wall composed of complex lipids.
These bacteria are notoriously difficult to break open.
As a result, harsh conditions have been proposed and utilized to disrupt these cells, some of which have resulted in deleterious effects which render the nucleic acids damaged and unusable for subsequent procedures or experimentation.
However, the need to lyse such types of cells in an expedient, safe, efficient and inexpensive manner is a continuing and urgent one.
The clinical use of DNA or RNA probes for mycobacterial detection has been hampered by the major difficulty encountered in breaking the mycobacterial cells to make the nucleic acids contained therein available for hybridization.
Without this basic requirement, namely, efficient, safe and inexpensive release of cellular RNA and DNA into solution, hybridization cannot occur and the value of genetic probes as a diagnostic tool for refractory cells such as mycobacteria is reduced significantly.
Prior to applicant's invention, no simple ways were described for adequately disrupting these cells without making the RNA and/or DNA incapable of hybridization.
There are a variety of ultrasonic baths commercially available which could be utilized to practice the method of the present invention.
For example, Branson Cleaning Equipment Company of Shelton, Conn