Purification of transfection-grade plasmid DNA from bacterial cells with superparamagnetic nanoparticles

The functionalized magnetic nanobeads were used to develop a rapid protocol for extracting and purifying transfection-grade plasmid DNA from bacterial culture. Nanosized superparamagnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4) were prepared by chemical coprecipitation method using Fe2+, Fe3+ salt, and ammonium hydroxide under a nitrogen atmosphere. The surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles was modified by coating with the multivalent cationic agent, polyethylenimine (PEI). The PEI-modified magnetic nanobeads were employed to simplify the purification of plasmid DNA from bacterial cells. We demonstrated a useful plasmid, pRSETB-EGFP, encoding the green fluorescent protein with T7 promoter, was amplified in DE3 strain of Escherichia coli. The loaded nanobeads are recovered by magnetically driven separation and regenerated by exposure to the elution buffer with optimal ionic strength (1.25 M) and pH (9.0). Up to approximately 819 μg of high-purity (A260/A280 ratio=1.86) plasmid DNA was isolated from 100 ml of overnight bacterial culture. The eluted plasmid DNA was used directly for restriction enzyme digestion, bacterial cell transformation and animal cell transfection applications with success. The PEI-modified magnetic nanobead delivers significant time-savings, overall higher yields and better transfection efficiencies compared to anion-exchange and other methods. The results presented in this report show that PEI-modified magnetic nanobeads are suitable for isolation and purification of transfection-grade plasmid DNA.