One unit of TurboNuclease converts 1 OD₂₆₀ of salmon sperm DNA into acidsoluble nucleotides in 30 minutes at 37°C in a reaction buffer of 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0 and 1 mM MgCl₂. This corresponds to complete digestion of 50 ug of salmon sperm DNA into oligonucleotides. TurboNuclease has a specific activity of >1.3x10⁶ units/mg. This is equivalent to >3x10⁶ Kunitz units/mg, over 100-fold specific activity of most highly purified bovine DNase I (~25,000 Kunitz units/mg).

Figure 1
50 ug of salmon sperm DNA was incubated with the indicated units of TurboNuclease and another brand of nuclease at 37°C for 30 minutes in a buffer of 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0 and 1 mM MgCl₂. DNA digestion was monitored by agarose gel. TurboNuclease shows no detectable protease activity.

TurboNuclease: 250 units/ul in Storage Buffer of 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 50 mM NaCl, 5 mM MgCl2 and 50% Glycerol. TurboNuclease is purified through a proprietary process that achieves purity of >99% as shown in Figure 2. Total endotoxin level is <0.1 EU/1,000 units of TurboNuclease as determined by the LAL Gel-Clot Assay.

Store TurboNuclease at -20°C. TurboNuclease is stable in the Storage Buffer at 37°C for at least three week without any loss of activity.

TurboNuclease can be used to reduce viscosity of cell lysates and remove nucleic acid contamination from sample preparations. It reduces smearing when used with 10% SDS to make whole cell lysate for SDS-PAGE. It may reduce or prevent clumping of concentrated cells and frozen cells following thawing. TurboNuclease also replaces crude DNase I in many applications. To reduce viscosity of cell lysate, 10-500 units of TurboNuclease can be used for each gram of cell paste. The efficiency of viscosity reduction may vary with buffers, cell types, and cell lysis methods used. Due to its high specificity, the total amount TurboNuclease added is less than 0.1 ug/ml of lysate and will not complicate any down stream process.

TurboNuclease Procedure (PDF)