Magnetic bead-based nucleic acid purification kit: Clinical application and performance evaluation in stool specimens.

Two different methods - the semi-automated magnetic bead-based kit (SK, Stool DNA/RNA Purification kit®) and the manual membrane column-based kit (QS, QIAamp® DNA Stool Mini kit) - for purifying nucleic acids from clinical stool samples were compared and evaluated. The SK kit was more user-friendly than QS due to the reduced manual processing, partial automation, and short turnaround time with half cost. Furthermore, SK produced high yields in both DNA and RNA extractions but poor purity in RNA extraction. In the assessment of rotavirus and Clostridium difficile infection, both kits had equivalent or more sensitive performance compared with the standard method. Although SK showed some interference and inhibition in nucleic acid extraction, the performance, including the repeatability, linearity, analytical sensitivity, and matrix effect, was sufficient for routine clinical use.