A one‐solution, one‐tube plasmid DNA miniprep

Plasmid DNA minipreps are fundamental techniques in molecular biology. Current plasmid DNA minipreps use alkali and anionic detergents in a multiple‐solution format requiring passage through several tubes. Non‐ionic detergents (NIDs) have been used for plasmid DNA isolation, but they are not thought to be essential for this procedure. Here we demonstrate that NIDs are sufficient for plasmid DNA extraction. The NID miniprep can be implemented in a one‐solution, one‐tube format in less than half hour, and the plasmid DNA outperforms the alkali miniprep DNA in many downstream applications. This work demonstrates that NID minipreps generate high quality plasmid DNA, and are simpler, less costly and labor‐intensive compared to alkali minipreps.