ArticleJournal of biomolecular techniques : JBT2009
An assessment of air as a source of DNA contamination encountered when performing PCR.
Article in Journal of biomolecular techniques : JBT, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Magnetically Localized Detection of Amplified DNA Using Biotinylated and Fluorescent Primers and Magnetic Nanoparticles.Biosensors · 2025Article
- Ubiquitous microbial contaminants associated with scientific ocean drilling.Access microbiology · 2025Article
- Exploring the complexities of poultry respiratory microbiota: colonization, composition, and impact on health.Animal microbiome · 2024Review
- The invisible witness: air and dust as DNA evidence of human occupancy in indoor premises.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The Evolution of Diagnostic Techniques in the Paleopathology of Tuberculosis: A Scoping Review.Pathogens & immunity · 2023Article
- Bacteria in the amniotic fluid without inflammation: early colonization vs. contamination.Journal of perinatal medicine · 2021Article
- Nasal bacterial microbiota during an outbreak of equine herpesvirus 1 at a farm in southern Ontario.Canadian journal of veterinary research = Revue canadienne de recherche veterinaire · 2021Article
- Multiplex detection of six swine viruses on an integrated centrifugal disk using loop-mediated isothermal amplification.Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc · 2019Article
- Article
- Defending Our Public Biological Databases as a Global Critical Infrastructure.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2019Article
- Polymerase Chain Reaction and Its Application in the Diagnosis of Infectious Keratitis.Medical hypothesis, discovery & innovation ophthalmology journal · 2019Review
- Article
- Highly sensitive and specific Alu-based quantification of human cells among rodent cells.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Multiplex detection of bacteria on an integrated centrifugal disk using bead-beating lysis and loop-mediated amplification.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Here, there, and everywhere: From PCRs to next-generation sequencing technologies and sequence databases, DNA contaminants creep in from the most unlikely places.EMBO reports · 2015Article
- Progress in metagenomics requires a balanced appraisal of the available technologies.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2013Article
- Distinct DNA methylomes of newborns and centenarians.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sensitive molecular methods, such as the PCR, can detect low-level contamination, and careful technique is required to reduce the impact of contaminants. Yet, some assays that are designed to detect high copy-number target sequences appear to be impossible to perform without contamination, and frequently, personnel or laboratory environment are held responsible as the source. This complicates diagnostic and research analysis when using molecular methods. To investigate the air specifically as a source of contamination, which might occur during PCR setup, we exposed tubes of water to the air of a laboratory and clean hood for up to 24 h. To increase the chances of contamination, we also investigated a busy open-plan office in the same way. All of the experiments showed the presence of human and rodent DNA contamination. However, there was no accumulation of the contamination in any of the environments investigated, suggesting that the air was not the source of contamination. Even the air from a busy open-plan office was a poor source of contamination for all of the DNA sequences investigated (human, bacterial, fungal, and rodent). This demonstrates that the personnel and immediate laboratory environment are not necessarily to blame for the observed contamination.
Indexed as
Identifiers
19949694PMC2777341What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.