Rapid DNA extraction from human saliva and blood for SNP calling

Zinc is an essential micronutrient, which plays a crucial role in growth, development, reproduction, and immune response1. Zinc deficiency can be caused by a low zinc intake or by certain diseases. During pregnancy, the fetus can get this necessary mineral only through the mother and thus maternal zinc depletion is commonly observed in expectant women. An adequate amount of zinc during pregnancy, but also in maternal milk, is fundamental for the newborn’s growth and immune system. Therefore, having an adequate supply of maternal zinc during pregnancy and lactation is crucial for infant development, especially in countrieswhere malnutrition is prevalent.

The ZNT2 zinc transporter, encoded by the SLC30A2 gene, is expressed in various tissues including kidney and mammary glands where it regulates zinc excretion. Our group is interested in the SNP rs3121763 variant found in the SLC30A2 gene. The allelic frequencies of this SNP show large differences in populations from different parts of the world. It can be hypothesized that this SNP is correlated with the amount of zinc excreted in urine and maternal milk. Our interest lies in whether a correlation exists between this SLC30A2 variant and zinc maintenance during pregnancy and neonatal development.

In this application note, we demonstrate that MicroGEM’s PDQeX prepGEM® Universal kit (#XPU1000), combined with the PDQeX Nucleic Acid Extractor (#XMA), provides a faster and more efficient way to extract DNA from a small amount of saliva and blood compared to QIAGEN Gentra Puregene Blood Kit and is suitable for genotyping of the rs3121763 SNP via targeted sequencing
with Oxford Nanopore technology. In addition to its speed and efficiency, prepGEM Universal extraction requires extremely small amounts of starting material making possible analysis of limited samples, such as blood taken from infants.