Harris micro punch

Genomic DNA from individual miracidia was extracted using Chelex^® beads (Bio-Rad; Hercules, CA, USA) from 2.0 mm discs containing sample that had been punched out of the FTA card using a Harris-Micro-Punch (VWR; London, UK [37 (link)].

Genomic DNA from Schistosoma randomly selected miracidia were individually extracted from FTA^® cards using the Chelex method [40 (link)]. Harris-Micro-Punch (VWR; London, UK) was used to perforate a 2 mm disc at the center where the sample was placed. The disc was washed in 50 μL ultra-pure water for 10 min, the water discarded, and the disc was incubated in 80 μL of 5% Chelex^® solution (Bio-Rad; Hercules, CA, USA) at 65 °C for 30 min with agitation. This was incubated again at 99 °C for 8 min without agitation. The solution was centrifuged at 14,000 rpm for 2 min and 60 μL of the supernatant was transferred into a 96-wells micro-plate and stored at −20 °C for genomic analysis.