The instrument produces approximately 50 ul of ssDNA per well at approximately 80 ng/ul. At this time, it can process six microtiter plates in 1 hr 20 min, though improvements are planned to increase throughput to six plates per hour and to perform e-coli cell separation in the instrument itself. The cost of the prep is currently $0.12/well and is dominated by the cost of the filter plate. Re-use of the filter plates is possible, lowering the cost of the prep if desired. This instrument has been in production use since 1/96 and is now producing an average of 25,000 templates per month for our sequencing projects. All ssDNA templates made at our center since early 1996 have been made with this instrument. PCR product purification is also occasionally performed with this machine operating with a slightly different protocol.

ssDNA purification protocol performed by the instrument:

1. Mix 300ul of M13 supernatant with 80uL of 20% PEG 8000 + 2.5M NaCl. Transfer to glass fiber filter.



2. Push liquid through filter under pressure to trap phage in filter.



3. Wash filter twice with 3M NaClO4 in 70% EtOH to lyse phage and bind DNA to glass.



4. Wash filter six times with 70% EtOH to remove salts.



5. Dry filter with compressed air.



6. Add 60 ul of 1xTE to each well. Incubate for two minutes.



7. Elute into microtiter plate.