FAQ: Can the Monarch HMW DNA Extraction Kits be used to process environmental or fecal samples for metagenomic studies?

We do not recommend our kit for processing environmental samples like soil or for processing fecal samples. These samples have two main challenges: they both have a very high nuclease burden, and they contain inhibitors that are very difficult to remove (humic acid for soil, bile acids for fecal samples). The nuclease burden results in significantly degraded DNA, which is inherently not suitable for HMW DNA isolation, and the inhibitors present in those samples will not be effectively removed by the current kit chemistry.