TRAzol Reagent

TRAzol Reagent is a ready-to-use reagent for the isolation of total RNA from cells and tissues. The reagent, a mono-phasic solution of phenol and guanidine isothiocyanate, is an improvement to the single-step RNA isolation method. During sample homogenization or lysis, TRAzol Reagent maintains the integrity of the RNA, while disrupting cells and dissolving cell components. Addition of chloroform followed by centrifugation, separates the solution into an aqueous phase and an organic phase. RNA remains exclusively in the aqueous phase. After transfer of the aqueous phase, the RNA is recovered by precipitation with isopropyl alcohol. After removal of the aqueous phase, the DNA and proteins in the sample can be recovered by sequential precipitation. Precipitation with ethanol yields DNA from the interphase, and an additional precipitation with isopropyl alcohol yields proteins from the organic phase.

Copurification of the DNA may be useful for normalizing RNA yields from sample to sample.This technique performs well with small quantities of tissue (50-100 mg) and cells (5x10^6), and large quantities of tissue (>1 g) and cells (>10^7) of human, animal, plant, or bacterial origin.The simplicity of the TRAzol Reagent method allows simultaneous processing of a large number of samples. The entire procedure can be completed in one hour. Total RNA isolated by TRAzol Reagent is free of protein and DNA contamination.

Application
Purified RNA is free of impurities and enzyme inhibitors, and have an A260/280=1.8-2.0, is suitable for applications such as:
Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR)
Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR)
Northern blotting
Nuclease protection assays
RNA amplification for microarray analysis
cDNA library preparation after poly(A)+ selection

Features
Stable yield
Reliable performance of high-quality purified total RNA in downstream applications