QIAseq Beads

QIAGEN offers a magnetic bead solution designed to support next-generation sequencing (NGS) research. The beads remove adapter dimers and other unwanted components during purification, delivering efficient and precise library-size selection for high-quality libraries. Suitable for automated or manual workflows, QIAseq Beads enable cost-effective processing of PCR products and fragmented DNA, contributing to high-quality NGS data.

The standard workflow involves adding the beads to the sample, incubating for 5 minutes, washing twice with ethanol and drying for 10 minutes, pelleting the beads on a magnetic stand, and eluting the nucleic acids into a new tube. A typical bead-ratio-based cleanup schedule uses 0.8x after the first ligation step, 1.1x after the second ligation step, and 1.2x after library amplification, supporting higher bead ratios for cleanup compared with Competitor A beads.

In benchmarking studies, the beads were evaluated across a range of bead-to-DNA ratios (0.5x to 1.5x) using a 50 µL DNA size ladder volume, with binding for 5 minutes at room temperature followed by 5 minutes on a magnetic stand, two washes with 200 µL of 80% ethanol, and elution in 6 µL of Buffer EB. Analysis on an Agilent BioAnalyzer high sensitivity chip demonstrated high library purity, high yield, and expected library size distribution even at low inputs such as 50 picograms of starting genomic DNA.