The "Product FAQs" column collects products related questions which MGI customers inquiries frequently. And we organizes FAQs which will be released in the future to help you understand and use MGI products better.
Q1.Functions of DNBelab-D4 Digital Sample Preparation System?
DNBelab-D4 can perform library preparation including enzymatic fragmentation, end repair, adapter ligation, PCR, magnetic bead purification, fragment size selection, nucleic acid quantification, DNB making, etc. Users can input nucleic acids (DNA and/or RNA) into the D4 and take out the final product (doublestranded DNA or DNB). The process is fully automated and the D4 can provide the concentration of the product and the recommended amount of input for sequencing.
Q2.Throughput of DNBelab-D4?
DNBelab-D4 runs one sample preparation cartridge at one time and each sample preparation cartridge has 4 lanes. Typically, D4 supports up to 4 samples per run.
Q3.Turn-around time (TAT) of DNBelab-D4?
After manual adding the sealing fluid, library reagents and samples (estimated to take less than 15 minutes) and insertion of the sample preparation cartridge into the D4, the D4 starts the library preparation process automatically. The TAT of the D4 varies depending on the library preparation protocol. The DNBelab-D4RS Enzymatic DNA Library Preparation Kit V2.0 (940-001198-00), for example, is a general library preparation protocol including enzymatic fragmentation, end repair, adapter ligation, PCR, magnetic bead purification, fragment size selection, nucleic acid quantification, DNB making, and it can be used in the following applications such as simple genome assembly, mNGS, etc., with TAT of around 3 hours (including automated quantification). Typically, for the same library protocol, the D4 TAT is not longer than the manual library preparation time.
Q4.Does DNBelab-D4 have quantification function?
DNBelab-D4 has a built-in quantification module, which can fully automate double-stranded DNA library quantification or DNB quantification with fluorescent dyes. The concentration of the product and the recommended amount of input for sequencing will be shown on the result page.
Q5.Manual operation of DNBelab-D4?
When using DNBelab-D4 standard library preparation kit, users need to manually add the sealing fluid, library preparation reagents and samples into the sample preparation cartridge, which is expected to take less than 15 minutes. Then the sample preparation cartridge is inserted into the instrument, and all subsequent library steps are automatically completed by the D4. The result page displays the quantitative results of the product for each lane. Next, users need to remove the sample preparation cartridge from the instrument, take out the product from the sample preparation cartridge and remove the sealing fluid. Product pooling can be performed according to sequencing requirements.
Q6.How does DNBelab-D4 prevent aerosols and cross-contamination?
DNBelab-D4 utilizes a unique fully-closed system. In the process of library preparation, all droplets are always under the sealing fluid, and all the waste liquid generated in the process of the testing is also under the sealing fluid and retained in the sample preparation cartridge. These droplets are completely isolated from the outside air, so no aerosol is produced. Each reaction system is independent from each other, thus completely avoiding cross contamination. D4 has been validated for prevention of cross-contamination in mNGS, tNGS, small cancer panel and other sequencing applications, and the results show that D4 can achieve zero-contamination library preparation.