How does the DNA Protection work in the EpitTect Bisulfite kits?

The DNA Protect buffer included in all EpiTect Bisulfite and EpiTect Plus Bisulfite kits works in two ways.

1) it serves as a scavenger for free radicals which are built during bisulfite conversion. As these free radicals can harm and fragment DNA the scavenger protects DNA from excessive degradation.

2) it keeps DNA single stranded even at lower temperatures so that DNA doesn’t need to be subjected to high temperatures for long time which is known to degrade DNA. Thus, it ensures high conversion rates even at gentle conversion conditions.

This is of special interest if working with low DNA qualities e.g. when working with formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples.