Insight into Increased Recovery and Simplification of Genomic DNA Extraction Methods from Dried Blood Spots

There is no consensus on how to perform the manual extraction of nucleic acids from dried blood spots (DBSs). Current methods typically involve agitation of the DBSs in a solution for varying amounts of time with or without heat, and then purification of the eluted nucleic acids with a purification protocol. We explored several characteristics of genomic DNA (gDNA) DBS extraction such as extraction efficiency, the role of red blood cells (RBCs) in extraction and critical kinetic factors to understand if these protocols can be simplified while maintaining sufficient gDNA recovery. We found that agitation in a RBC lysis buffer before performing a DBS gDNA extraction protocol increases yield 1.5 to 5-fold, depending upon the anticoagulant used. The use of an alkaline lysing agent along with either heat or agitation was sufficient to elute quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) amplifiable gDNA in 5 minutes. This work adds insight into the extraction of gDNA from DBSs with the intention of informing a simple, standardized manual protocol for extraction.