What are the benefits of “N-Carrier” and of “NucleoGuard”?
N-Carrier is an RNA with a hairpin structure that makes it totally inert (no primer, no template). Its small size ensures effective removal (>99%) by spin columns and prevents any interference with Agilent RNA profiles (even with picogram RNA isolates). NucleoGuard is an effective and universal nuclease inhibitor and its chemical nature ensures full activity even in high GTC salt concentrations. Although GTC in common lysis buffers is a denaturing agent, not all enzymes (RNases) are completely inactivated, as is obvious in the use of proteinase K in GTC buffers. Benefit of NucleoGuard is shown in a recent publication: Hu et al. (2008) Clin.Chem. 54:824-832. Supplementary Figure 2 demonstrates recovery of rRNA peaks – but only if NucleoGuard had been included in the lysis step.
