NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Clontech Laboratories and Rubicon Genomics today announced a partnership to integrate each other's technology for RNA sample preparation for next-generation sequencing applications.
The Smarter Universal Low Input RNA Library Prep Kit combines Rubicon's ThruPlex technology with Clontech's Smarter Universal Low Input RNA Kit for Sequencing to provide a method for generating libraries for transcriptome analysis from very low amounts of total RNA, including compromised or non-PolyA RNA samples.
Clontech's Smarter library prep kit is designed and validated for the generation of libraries from very low amounts of compromised RNA for transcriptome analysis on Illumina's next-generation sequencing platforms. Rubicon's ThruPlex technology for the synthesis and amplification of DNA has fewer steps and materials transfers, minimizing the chances of experimental variability, bias, and contamination, the firms said.
ThruPlex, they added, is for use with samples of between 50 picograms and 50 nanograms of input DNA, and currently is available for sequencing on Illumina's HiSeq, MiSeq, and Genome Analyzer platforms.
"Our Smart technology and Rubicon's ThruPlex technology are highly complementary, and we believe that combining the two provides an ideal solution for RNA sequencing studies using low input RNA samples," Clontech GM Carol Lou said in a statement. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio.
The firms did not disclose financial and other terms of the deal.