Comparison of three methods for extraction of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis DNA for polymerase chain reaction from broth-based culture systems

Conventional and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were used to measure the recovery of DNA from Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) extracted with 3 different methods (MagMAX (TM), DNeasy (R), and phenol-chloroform) after growth in a broth-based culture system. Of the 304 samples tested, bacterial DNA was detected in 197 (65%) of samples after MagMAX, 156 (51%) after phenol-chloroform, and 123 (40%) after DNeasy extractions. By acid-fast stain, 177 (58%) of the samples yielded acid-fast-positive bacilli, of which 4 were PCR negative by the 3 extraction methods. The results demonstrated that the amplifiable MAP DNA, as evidenced by the number of PCR-positive cultures and amplicon intensity on ethidium bromide-stained agarose gel, was best for MagMAX, intermediate for phenol-chloroform, and least for DNeasy. When subjected to real-time polymerase chain reaction, the MagMAX extracts produced the best results, thereby making it an excellent kit for the efficient extraction of MAP DNA from the broth-based culture system.