Nucleic Acid Quantification

The quantification of nucleic acids is common to many applications in basic science and clinical research. These assays use either absorbance or fluorescence to measure the concentration of DNA or RNA in the sample. Regardless of the method employed, many laboratories have adapted single cuvette protocols to a 96- and 384-well microplate-based format. These standardized formats, in conjunction with instrumentation capable of recording measurements from them, allow for the rapid quantification of large numbers of samples.

Nucleic acid quantification encompasses key methods including:

• Spectrophotometric determination of dsDNA, ssDNA, RNA at A₂₆₀
• Fluorometric determination of dsDNA with fluorescent dyes, for example, PicoGreen
• Determination of purity based on A₂₆₀/A₂₈₀ ratios

Application Notes:

• Micro-Volume Purity Assessment of Nucleic Acids using A₂₆₀/A₂₈₀ Ratio and Spectral Scanning
• Low-Volume High Throughput Workflow for Analysis of Nucleic Acid Samples for Biobanking
• Fluorometric Quantitation of dsDNA using PicoGreen®

Many more application notes and other technical documentation about Nucleic Acid Quantification are available in Resources.