Sample Preparation Methods for Molecular Techniques for Drinking Water

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this project was to evaluate nucleic acid extraction techniques to detect different microbial pathogens (e.g., pathogenic viruses, bacteria, bacterial spores, and protozoan parasites) in drinking water using molecular techniques. While numerous nucleic acid extraction kits are commercially available, the composition of these kits is largely proprietary, making it difficult to optimize or otherwise modify them for specific applications. The practical output from this research project was to develop a single nucleic acid extraction method that could be readily implemented by any water utility laboratory to extract DNA and RNA from diverse microbes of interest for water quality monitoring.