Short protocol Homogeniser Precellys
®
24 / 24-Dual
PEQLAB_v0314_E
26
APPLICATION TIPS
For the homogenisation of a wide variety of starting
materials PEQLAB offers 19 different optimised Pre-
cellys lysis kits, each consisting of high-quality
0.5 ml, 2 ml or 7 ml screw cap tubes filled with
ceramic, steel or glass beads. They are suitable for
use in the MINILYS, Precellys
®
24/Precellys
®
24-
Dual and other 'bead beating' homogenisers. The
kits are also available as part of the Precellys RNA
and DNA isolation kits designed for homogenisa-
tion and downstream isolation of RNA and DNA.
19 different Precellys
®
lysis kits available
General user tips
Essential for the selection of the appropriate lysis kit is the consistence of the starting material to ho-
mogenise.
Mechanically highly resistant samples e.g. hard and elastic samples like bones or cartilage require high
lysis energy which can be generated by the larger ceramic or steel beads. For the 2 ml tubes they are
available in two types 'standard' and 'reinforced': 1) when using transparent 'standard tubes' due to the
enormous kinetic energy of the beads, to prevent tube damage, do not use less than 500
μ
l buffer. 2)
the recently introduced 'reinforced tubes' are suitable for use with smaller sample volumes even at very
high energy conditions. The use of liquid nitrogen will make the tubes brittle and is not recommended.
If the lysis buffers contain potentially corroding material (including phenol, chaotropic salts, detergents
etc.) use ceramic beads instead of steel beads.
For most animal and plant tissue the 1.4 mm ceramic beads (CK14) or the 1.4/2.8 mm ceramic mix
(CKM) are more suited. Although the beads have a large grinding potential damage to the reaction
tubes does not occur. Additionally, the ceramic material is chemically extremely inert and therefore suit-
able for most lysis buffers and downstream applications.
The lysis kit SK38 with its optimized mixture of glass and ceramic beads is available for the effective
lysis of microorganisms in soil samples.
For the disruption of microorganisms glass or ceramic beads with a diameter of 0.5 mm or 0.1 mm are
ideal. As a rule of thumb 'The smaller the material to lyse the smaller the beads to use'.
For very small amounts of sample (e.g. weight < 10 mg or volume < 100
μ
l) the 1.4 mm ceramic beads
or the 0.5 mm glass beads are available in smaller 0.5 ml tubes (CK14S or VK05S).
The following table provides an overview for choosing the appropriate lysis kit.
