Isolation of DNA using magnetic nanoparticles coated with dimercaptosuccinic acid

Lately, the isolation of DNA using magnetic nanoparticles has received increased attention owing to their facile manipulation and low costs. Although methods involving their magnetic separation have been extensively studied, there is currently a need for an efficient technique to isolate DNA for highly sensitive diagnostic applications. We describe herein a method to isolate and purify DNA using biofunctionalized superparamagnetic nanoparticles synthesized by a modified polyol method to obtain the desired monodispersity, followed by surface modification with meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) containing carboxyl groups for DNA absorption. The DMSA-coated magnetic nanoparticles (DMSA-MNPs) were used for the isolation of DNA, with a maximum yield of 86.16%. In particular, we found that the isolation of DNA using small quantities of DMSA-MNPs was much more efficient than that using commercial microbeads (NucliSENS-easyMAG, BioMérieux). Moreover, the DMSA-MNPs were successfully employed in the isolation of genomic DNA from human blood. In addition, the resulting DNA–nanoparticle complex was directly subjected to PCR amplification without prior elution, which could eventually lead to simple, rapid, sensitive and integrated diagnostic systems.