The 100-micron Low Binding Silica Beads are chemically treated to bind fewer solutes liberated from homogenized samples. Untreated silica and zirconium beads have surface chemistries that bind DNA, RNA, and proteins upon disruption of cells. Both enzyme and PCR-based assays have lower sensitivity when analytes are liberated using untreated beads. The 100-micron Low Binding Beads yield a greater concentration of solutes and provide greater range and linearity, especially in real-time PCR assays.

The 100-micron Low Binding Beads are employed to homogenize fungal plant pathogens, including airborne spores of tree fungi such as the rust Austropuccinia psidii and the Ascomycetes Ceratocystis lukuohia and C. huliohia, for DNA extraction. This process aids in studying the epidemiology of these fungi to better manage the disease known as Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death.  The 100-micron Low Binding Beads are also useful for extracting DNA from insects such as the frass beetle Xyleborus spp., which vectors the tree disease and the fruit fly Drosophila including their associated bacteria.  The nucleic acids from the fruit flies and bacteria facilitate the investigation of how aging affects the intestinal absorption and excretion of amino acids in fruit flies.

Citations

Atkinson, C. T., & Roy, K. (2022). Environmental monitoring for invasive fungal pathogens of ʽŌhiʽa (Metrosideros polymorpha) on the Island of Hawaiʽi. Biological Invasions, 25(2), 399–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-022-02922-3 (Environmental monitoring using passive samplers effectively detected seasonal and regional differences in airborne fungal spores of Austropuccinia, but showed little evidence of long-distance dispersal of the fungi causing Rapid ʽŌhiʽa Death)

Atkinson, C.T., K. Roy, and C. Granthon. 2019. Economical Environmental Sampler Designs for Detecting Airborne Spread of Fungi Responsible for Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death. Technical Report HCSU-087. Hilo, HI: University of Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i Cooperative Studies Unit (The new economical environmental samplers effectively detected airborne fungi causing Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, with the active sampler being more efficient)

Mornement, A.A. (2023) The impact of changing intestinal amino acid transporter expression and luminal nutrient content on healthy ageing. Doctoral thesis, Durham University (Modulating intestinal amino acid transporter expression and luminal nutrient content significantly impacts aging, extending lifespan and improving health outcomes.)

Mornement, A.A., Dack, R.E., Doupe, D.P. & Clark, R.I. (2023). Drosophila Undigested Metabolite Profiling reveals age related loss of intestinal amino acid transport regulates longevity. Biorxiv doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.26.564159 (In Drosophila, age-related loss of intestinal amino acid transport increases gut amino acid load and shortens lifespan, while reducing certain amino acid transporters’ expression extends lifespan and enhances microbial control)

Roy K, Granthon C, Peck R, Atkinson CT (2021) Effectiveness of Rapid ʽŌhiʽa Death management strategies at a focal disease outbreak on Hawaiʻi Island. Hawai‘i Cooperative Studies Unit Technical Report HCSU-099. University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, Hawai‘i, USA. http://hdl.handle.net/10790/5554 (Tree felling and insecticide treatments effectively reduced the airborne spread of infective ambrosia beetle frass, crucial for managing Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death on Hawaiʻi Island)