DNA from Oragene®/saliva samples† andGenomePlex® whole genome amplification
J. Chartier and M. Pinard

DNA Genotek, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2006-06-29

DNA collected with the Oragene® self-collection kit issuccessfully amplified using the GenomePlex® kit, thus
creating a renewable source of DNA for downstream
experiments.

Introduction
The ability to replenish valuable DNA specimens
may be useful in a variety of situations. For example,
biobanks may receive requests for DNA samples fromspecific diseases. Often, the patient may be deceasedor otherwise unable to provide additional DNA.
For situations like this, Whole Genome Amplification(WGA) is a method by which small amounts of starting
DNA material can be multiplied time and again
to generate a renewable source of genomic DNA.
The GenomePlex WGA kit (Sigma-Aldrich) randomly
cuts genomic DNA into a library of fragments,
ranging from 200 to 1,500 base pairs in size, withan average of 400 bp. Universal priming sites areadded to the DNA fragments, which are thenamplified using a high-fidelity DNA polymerase,
without degradation of representation1.
The purpose of this study was to determine if DNA
collected with Oragene could be amplified with theGenomePlex kit, and to test the performance of
the amplified DNA for PCR and SNP genotypingapplications.

†Materials and methods
DNA collection
Saliva was collected from 10 donors using Oragene
self-collection kits. DNA was purified from 500 μL
aliquots of the Oragene/saliva samples using theprepIT™•L2P protocol2. Purified DNA was re-dissolvedin 75 μL of TE buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl, 1 mM EDTA,
pH 8.0). DNA was quantified using a fluorimeterand SYBR® Green I dye (Molecular Probes) according
to the F/D assay3.

Whole genome amplification
The WGA reactions were performed according
to instructions provided with the GenomePlex kit.
The first stage of the protocol involved random
fragmentation of the genomic DNA and conversionof the resulting small fragments to PCR-amplifiable
OmniPlex® Library molecules flanked by universal
priming sites. The second stage involved amplificationof the OmniPlex Library using universal oligonucleotide
primers and a limited number of temperature cycles.
Table 1 summarizes the steps in the protocol.
The amplified DNA was quantified using the F/Dassay. The molecular weight was analyzed by agarose
gel electrophoresis with ethidium bromide staining
and comparison with a Lambda-Hind III digest ladder.

Saliva samples were collected with Oragene®•DNA or Oragene®•DISCOVER.

(outside the USA)(in the USA)

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Step Description
1

Heat 10 µL of DNA template to 95°C for
4 minutes

2

Cool on ice and add Library Preparationand Stabilization buffers

3

Heat to 95°C for 2 minutes

4

Cool on ice and add Library Preparation
enzyme5

Perform single cycles at 16°C, 24°C, and37°C for 20 minutes each, then 75°C for
5 minutes and hold at 4°C

6

Library amplification is performed byadding 60 µL Master Mix containing
JumpStart Taq

7

Heat to 95°C in a thermal cycler followedby 14 cycles of 95°C for 15 seconds and 65°Cfor 5 minutes

8Results
Whole genome amplification
For the WGA reactions, the amount of starting DNA
template was 10 ng. The average amount of DNAafter amplification was 6.52 ± 0.20 μg, representing
about a 650-fold increase. This compares to about an883-fold increase generated with the control DNA.
Figure 1 compares the molecular weight of WGA
and unamplified DNA samples.
1

23

4

523.1 kb

564 bpStore at 4°C or -20°C

Table 1: Summary of the GenomePlex protocol.

Polymerase chain reaction
WGA and unamplified DNA samples were analyzed
by PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis for a 560 bp
fragment of the human thymidylate synthetase gene.

SNP genotyping
A TaqMan® SNP Genotyping Assay for thethymidylate synthetase (TYMS) gene was obtained
from Applied Biosystems (TaqMan Assay ID:
C___1637541_1_). WGA and unamplified DNA
samples were genotyped using a Rotor-Gene 3000™
real-time quantitative thermal cycler (CorbettResearch). Reactions were set up according to the
manufacturer’s instructions4, 5.

Figure 1: Agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA samples. Lane 2 contains
unamplified DNA sample. Lanes 3 and 4 show WGA reactions withsample and control DNA, respectively. A Lambda-Hind III digest wasused as the marker in Lanes 1 and 5.

Polymerase Chain Reaction
Figure 2 shows a typical PCR result for WGA andunamplified DNA samples.
1234Figure 2: PCR results. Lane 1 shows PCR with unamplified control
DNA and Lane 2 contains a 100 bp ladder. Lanes 3 and 4 show PCR
with WGA and unamplified DNA template, respectively.

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SNP genoytping

Discussion and conclusions

Figure 3 shows an allelic discrimination plot for thethymidylate synthetase real-time PCR assay. The plot
is presented as the signal (average fluorescence
between cycles 41 and 45) minus the background(average fluorescence between cycles 21 and 25).

According to the manufacturer, 10 ng of starting
DNA should generate 5 to 10 µg of amplified DNA6.
DNA from Oragene gave an average yield of 6.52 µg,
which is within the expected range. The amplified
DNA worked well for both PCR and TaqMan
reactions – the PCR amplicons were of similarintensity and the SNP genotyping calls were identical.

 Oragene Oragene + GenomePlex

With Oragene/saliva samples, the median DNA yieldis 110 µg from 2 mL of saliva7. The GenomePlex kit
allows DNA from Oragene to be amplified around650-fold, thus resulting in a renewable source ofDNA. In summary, DNA collected with Oragene issuccessfully amplified with the GenomePlex kit, andthe amplified DNA works well with downstream
applications such as PCR and SNP genotyping.

Figure 3: Allelic discrimination plot for the thymidylate
synthetase assay.

References
123
4
567

Langmore, J. P. (2002). Rubicon Genomics, Inc. Pharmacogenomics. 3(4): 557-60.
Laboratory protocol for manual purification of DNA from 0.5 mL of sample. DNA Genotek. PD-PR-006.
DNA quantification using the Fluorescence/DNase (F/D) assay. Replaced with DNA quantification using SYBR Green I dye
and a micro-plate reader. DNA Genotek. PD-PR-075.
(June 2004). TaqMan SNP genotyping assays – protocol. Applied Biosystems. Part number 4332856.
Chartier, J. and Birnboim, H.C. (2005). DNA from Oragene/saliva samples is compatible with TaqMan SNP genotyping.
DNA Genotek. MK‑AN-011.
Technical Bulletin: GenomePlex® Whole Genome Amplification (WGA) kit. Sigma-Aldrich. http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/sigma/bulletin/wga1bul.pdf
Birnboim, H.C. (2004). DNA yield with an Oragene self-collection kit. DNA Genotek. PD‑WP-001.

Oragene®•DNA is not available for sale in the United States.
Oragene®•DISCOVER is for research use only, not for use in diagnostic procedures.
®Oragene is a registered trademark and prepIT™ is a trademark of DNA Genotek Inc. All other brands and names contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
All DNA Genotek protocols, white papers and application notes, are available in the support section of our website at www.dnagenotek.com.

MK-AN-015 Issue 3/2011-12© 2011 DNA Genotek Inc., a subsidiary of OraSure Technologies, Inc., all rights reserved.

www.dnagenotek.com • support@dnagenotek.com

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