Assessment of Capacity to Capture DNA Aerosols by Clean Filters for Molecular Biology Experiments

• DOI: 10.1264/jsme2.me18012
• Publication Date: 2018-06-15T22:25:47Z
• Authors: Yuki Morono; Tatsuhiko Hoshino; Takeshi Terada; Taketo Suzuki; Takahiro Sato; Hisashi Yuasa; Yuji Kubota; Fumio Inagaki
• Keywords: Aerosols; Quality Control; 0303 health sciences; Articles; DNA; DNA Contamination; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Risk Assessment; 03 medical and health sciences; Humans; Particulate Matter; Molecular Biology; Filtration

Experimental contamination by exogenous DNA is a major issue in molecular biological studies for data quality and its management. We herein assessed DNA aerosols for the risk of contamination and tested the capacity of clean air filters to trap and remove DNA aerosols. DNA aerosols were generated by atomizing a DNA solution and introduced into a laminar flow clean air unit. Capture and detection performed upstream and downstream of the clean air unit showed that a significant fraction (>99.96%) of introduced molecules was trapped and removed by the filter. Although DNA aerosols appear to be an avoidable source of exogenous contamination, a clearer understanding and careful experimental procedures are needed in order to perform contamination-free, high-quality molecular biology experiments.