PCR reagents, can I use reagents from different manufacturers? - (Mar/31/2010 )

Hi all,

I am mainly doing clinical screening using nested PCR in my lab.
And I am wondering whether would it be OK to use reagents from different manufacturers,
ie using Taq from Invitrogen and dNTP from Fermentas.
Would doing so have any effect on my results?

Any input is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

It should work fine. I'm not sure about how it would affect GLP issues in a clinical lab, where I would expect there to be well established, somewhat rigid protocols.

dNTP s from any relaible source dosnt effect results but efficiency of taq or any other enzyme shuld be optimized and confirmed before starting any serious and sensitive type of reaction.

as i dnt run clinical type of reaction bt once i face different band intensities from different sources of taq.

Hi all,

Thank you for the input.

Hey square pig,
Did it end up working okay?

I have been looking for the same answer about using different manufacturers. I am thinking about using these reagents from YSI.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

-Eric

It will work fine. The global life science reagents market is classified on the basis of various products categories such as PCR (polymerase chain reaction), cell and tissue culture, flow cytometer, chromatography, in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) reagents and many more. However, PCR is continuously expanding to new areas in which there are several types of Taq polymerase, dNTPs, buffers, kits and Master Mix ready-to-use solutions are available.

Reagents are well-characterized chemicals. As long as you make sure that you are substituting with the same chemical (complex ones in some cases), it should make no difference what kits you mix and match. Enzymes may have some different characteristics, so make sure you are using same name enzyme, but otherwise you can always make adjustments to your protocol and do some trial and error. Hey, you may end up making a better kit!