QIAprep Miniprep System

The QIAprep miniprep system is designed for isolation of up to 20 µg high-purity plasmid or cosmid DNA for use in routine molecular biology applications such as fluorescent and radioactive sequencing and cloning. Spin column and vacuum-driven multiwell formats are available to suit different throughput needs. For an overview of QIAGEN miniprep products, see the Plasmid Miniprep Kit Selection Guide.

Features and benefits

Ready-to-use plasmid DNA in minutes
Just bind, wash, and elute — no resins, slurries, or phenol extractions
Reproducible yields of high-purity plasmid DNA
Economical kits for every throughput requirement

Format Selection Guide
	No. of samples in parallel	Format	Clearing of alkaline lysates	Processing
QIAprep Spin Miniprep Kit	1–24	Spin columns	Centrifugation	Spin or vacuum
QIAprep 8 Miniprep Kit	8–48	8-well strips	Centrifugation	QIAvac 6S
QIAprep 8 Turbo Miniprep Kit	8–48	8-well strips	Rapid vacuum filtration	QIAvac 6S
QIAprep 8 Turbo BioRobot Kit	8–48	8-well strips	Rapid vacuum filtration	BioRobot Systems
QIAprep 96 Turbo Miniprep Kit	48–96	96-well plates	Rapid vacuum filtration	QIAvac 96
QIAprep 96 Turbo BioRobot Kit	48–96	96-well plates	Rapid vacuum filtration	BioRobot Systems

Principle

QIApre modules (see figure "QIAprep 96 plate, QIAprep 8 strip, and QIAprep spin columns") contain a unique silica gel membrane that binds up to 20 µg DNA in the presence of a high concentration of chaotropic salt, and allows elution in a small volume of low-salt buffer. QIAprep membrane technology eliminates time consuming phenol–chloroform extraction and alcohol precipitation, as well as the problems and inconvenience associated with loose resins and slurries. High-purity plasmid DNA eluted from QIAprep modules is immediately ready to use — there is no need to precipitate, concentrate, or desalt.

QIAprep 96 plate, QIAprep 8 strip, andQIAprep spin columns

TurboFilter modules — included in QIAprep Turbo Kits only — are asymmetric filter units specially designed to allow fast clearing of bacterial lysates generated under high concentrations of chaotropic salts. Crude bacterial lysates are vacuum filtered through the TurboFilter module eliminating the need for centrifugation (see figure "QIAvac 96 with 96-well plate"). Particle-free lysates flow directly into the wells of the QIAprep module, ready for purification and elution. TurboFilter technology streamlines QIAprep plasmid purification and allows the procedure to be fully automated on BioRobot Systems.

QIAvac 96 with 96-well plate

Procedure

Plasmid purification using QIAprep Kits follows a simple bind–wash–elute procedure (see following flowchart). First, bacterial cultures are lysed and the lysates are cleared either by filtration through TurboFilter modules (QIAprep Turbo Kits only) or by centrifugation. The cleared lysates are then applied to the QIAprep module where plasmid DNA adsorbs to the silicagel membrane. Impurities are washed away and pure DNA is eluted in a small volume of elution buffer or water.

Applications

QIAprep Miniprep Kits provide reproducible yields of high-purity DNA suitable for use in most applications, including:

Automated fluorescent sequencing (see figure "High-Quality DNA for Automated Sequencing"), including capillary sequencing
Radioactive sequencing
Restriction digestion (see figure "Complete Digestion with Various Restriction Enzymes")
Screening (see figure "Reproducible Yields for Screening")
Ligation and transformation

In addition to plasmid purification from Escherichia coli, QIAprep Kits can be used to purify plasmid DNA from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Bacillus subtilis, and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Contact QIAGEN Technical Services or your local distributor for protocols for these applications.

Complete Digestion with Various Restriction Enzymes

Restriction analysis of pBluescript DNA purified with the QIAprep Spin Miniprep Kit. Digestion with the indicated enzymes (1–5 units) was carried out on 1 µg plasmid DNA. Markers: lambda–HindIII

Reproducible Yields for Screening

Restriction analysis of a set of shotgun clones from a Saccharomyces cerevisiae library cloned in a pTZ18R derivative. Plasmid DNA was isolated with the QIAprep 8 Turbo Miniprep Kit and digested with BamHI and HindIII. Markers: 1 µg lambda–EcoRI–HindIII.

Related QIAGEN literature

The QIAGEN Guide to Template Purification and DNA Sequencing (2nd Edition)

For a free copy of any QIAGEN literature contact QIAGEN Technical Services or your local distributor.

High-Quality DNA for Automated Sequencing

Primer walking sequence of a Schizosaccharomyces pombe shotgun clone purified with the QIAprep 96 Turbo Miniprep Kit and sequenced on an ABI PRISM377XL Sequencer using a 48 cm WTR gel. The sequence was generated as part of the contribution by QIAGEN to the S. pombe Genome Project.