Aim: To develop a simple and convenient method for extracting genomic DNA from intestinal microflora for enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR detection.
Methods: Five methods of extracting bacterial DNA, including Tris-EDTA buffer, chelex-100, ultrapure water, 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate and 10% Triton-100 with and without sonication, were compared with the commercial fecal DNA extraction kit method, which is considered as the gold standard for DNA extraction. The comparison was based on the yield and purity of DNA and the indexes of the structure and property of micro-organisms that were reflected by ERIC-PCR.
Results: The yield and purity of DNA obtained by the chelex method was similar to that obtained with the fecal DNA kit. The ERIC-PCR results obtained for the DNA extracted by the chelex method and those obtained for DNA extracted with the fecal DNA kit were basically the same.
Conclusion: The chelex method is recommended for ERIC-PCR experiments in view of its simplicity and cost-effectiveness; and it is suitable for extracting total DNA from intestinal micro-organisms, particularly for handling a large number of samples.