To TE or not to TE

Post date: Feb 8, 2013 10:15:35 PM

We run into this all the time that people through around the word TE with know knowledge of the extensive variations that exist. Also most people don't realize common solutions in various kits are just variations of TE

1) Standard 1x TE = 10 mM Tris-HCl, 1.0 mM EDTA (pH 8.0, but this should not be assumed)

2) Buffer AE = 10 mM Tris-HCl, 0.5 mM EDTA (pH 9.0)

NOTE: Apparently Qiagen puts buffer AE in different kits and they may NOT be the same composition

Values From: DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kit (50) cat#69504

3) Buffer ATE = 10 mM Tris-HCl, 0.1 mM EDTA, 0.04% Sodium Azide (pH 8.3)

NOTE: Apparently Qiagen puts buffer ATE in different kits and they may NOT be the same composition

Values From: QiaSymphony DNA Midi Kit cat#931255

4) Buffer EB = 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.5)

* Common elution buffer in many Qiagen plasmid prep and sample clean-up kits

4) DNA Hydration Solution = 10 mM Tris-HCl, 1.0 mM EDTA (pH 7-8)

* Provided in Gentra Puregene kits from Qiagen

5) DNA Suspension Buffer = 10 mM Tris-HCl, 0.1 mM EDTA (pH 8.0)

* Recommended by Affymetrix for SNP arrays (basically in standard TE it will not work!)

* Commonly called TElowE

A bit of ranting/suggestions

A) Never put DNA in water alone

B) The pH of the solution can effect things like 260/280 values, generally higher pH makes things look better

C) You want to watch the final concentration of EDTA in any enzymatic reaction. Our recommendations is to use buffers with 0.1 mM EDTA

In our lab all DNA samples are stored in DNA Suspension Buffer (ie. TElowE)