MetaPolyzyme with RNase inhibitor

A common difficulty among microbiome scientists is to extract nucleic acids from difficult to lyse microbes that form capsules or highly resistant spores. Some microbes are difficult to disrupt because the cell walls may form capsules or resistant spores. To address this challenge, protocols that integrate lysing enzymes can be incorporated into the nucleic acid extraction workflow.

Isolating RNA from microbiome samples poses many challenges. RNA molecules are highly labile and are prone to degradation by contaminating RNases. As such, to adapt the MetaPolyzyme for RNA isolation, a broad range RNase inhibitor has been incorporated in order to help prevent RNA degradation by various RNases. MAC4LRI, includes all 6 enzymes from MetaPolyzyme to ensure maximal lysis of microorganisms while protecting the sample RNA from degradation. While it is not possible to inhibit all RNases from a specific microbial environment, we haver incorporated a proprietary RNase Inhibitor to help inhibit as many RNases as possible.


The MetaPolyzyme product family includes MAC4L, MAC4LDF (DNA-Free), SAEO200 (MycoPolyzme, for yeast and fungal lysis, DNA-Free) and MAC4LRI (RNase Inhibitor) and are based on a multi-lytic enzyme mixture formulated for effective lysis of microbiome samples from any sample type. Originally, MetaPolyZyme was developed by Scott Tighe for use on samples from extreme environments and general applications to increase DNA extraction efficiency for any method. To date, these products have been further evaluated and continuously developed in consultation and collaboration with the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) Metagenomics and Microbiome Research Group (MMRG; formerly the Metagenomics Research Group, MGRG). Several publications have cited use of MetaPolyzyme, suggesting various advantages to the usage of MetaPolyzyme for enhancing bacterial lysis.