Discussion
When developing a DNA extraction protocol, the main goals are an easy and fast workflow, high yields and a sufficient DNA purity. Manual DNA extraction procedures are time-consuming and often use toxic or harmful substances like chloroform or phenol, whereas column-based commercially available kits are expensive and comprise a complex workflow. Reproducibility and outcome of the DNA extraction depend to a high extent on the experience of the staff, the applied DNA extraction procedure and the sample matrices. In the field of gm crops, the official surveillance is responsible to detect contaminations of non-gm seed with traces of gm material and to control the labelling of products. Non-authorised gm crops may not be contained in any product entering the EU market. Therefore, highly reproducible, effective and simple DNA extraction protocols are needed to cope with the increasing amount of samples. Presently, automated DNA extraction using the Maxwell 16 extraction robot has mainly been used with sample material from human or livestock. In a recent study, Foley et al. [8] stated advantages of the automated DNA extraction (Maxwell) compared with manual DNA in respect of DNA quality and quantity when using milk,