Dr
Ezenwa James Onyemata
Current Organisation
Institute of Human Virology Nigeria
Current Job Title
Senior Research Officer
Biography
Publications
Background: The growth in genomic medicine has resulted in increased understanding of
topical areas in disease, discovery, pathogenesis and evolutionary biology. Fundamental to
data acquisition in genomic science is the quality of Deoxyribonucleic wAcid (DNA). DNA
is qualified using methods which may be expensive for low to middle income country
settings (LMICs) where cost is a constraint.
Method: We evaluated spectrophotometry, spectrofluorometry, agarose gel electrophoresis
and double restriction digestion using HindIII and EcoRI restriction enzymes with the
objective of identifying the most cost effective method(s) in an LMIC setting of Nigeria.
NanoDrop provided the lowest cost per sample at $0.97 followed by agarose gel
electrophoresis at $1.63, double restriction digestion plus agarose gel electrophoresis at
$2.216 and Qubit Fluorometer at $5.226. NanoDrop provides information on sample purity
and concentration, whereas agarose gel electrophoresis provides information on sample
integrity. Qubit Fluorometer provides the absolute concentration of double stranded DNA,
while double restriction digestion reactions provides information on the presence inhibiting
substances.
Results: Our results show that NanoDrop and agarose gel electrophoresis at a minimum is
ideal for assessing the quality of DNA as purity, integrity and quantity can be determined
without the use of the more expensive fluorescence method.