Determination of the integrity of RNA

摘要

Methods, systems, and apparatus make a determination of a level of integrity of a sample of biomolecules. For example, the determination of the integrity of RNA in a sample may be done in a fast and reproducible manner, such that the user can be assured of accuracy of a test (e.g. quantitative polymerase chain reaction qPCR) on the sample and compare results of different samples. The determination of integrity of an RNA sample is performed by comparing a size profile to reference size profiles (degradation standards) obtained from degradation over different lengths of times. As the reference scale of the level of integrity is derived from the actual degradation that occurs in a sample, high accuracy, reproducibility, and efficiency is provided.

主权项

1. A method of improving accuracy and reproducibility of determining a level of integrity of a sample of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and/or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules, the method comprising:
receiving a first size profile of the sample of the RNA and/or DNA molecules, wherein a size profile provides a measure of a distribution of values of at least one dimension of the RNA and/or DNA molecules, in the sample, the at least one dimension including length and/or weight; comparing, with an electrophoresis system, the first size profile to a plurality of reference size profiles, wherein each reference size profile correlates to a different level of integrity; and based on a similarity of the first size profile to one or more of the reference size profiles, determining, with the electrophoresis system, the level of integrity of the sample of RNA and/or DNA molecules, wherein the plurality of reference size profiles is obtained by: at each of a plurality of different elapsed times relative to an initial time:
measuring a respective reference size profile of a reference sample of RNA and/or DNA molecules selected from a group of reference samples having about the same initial integrity, wherein each respective reference size profile corresponds to a different amount of degradation of the reference sample, wherein each reference size profile provides a measure of a distribution of values of the at least one dimension of the RNA and/or DNA molecules in the reference sample; andmapping each reference size profile to a level of integrity, a highest integrity level of reference size profile being measured at the initial time, and each successive lower integrity level of reference size profile being measured at a longer elapsed time from the initial time.