Bead Lysis Kit Selection Guidelines

What Bead Lysis Kit is right for my research?

Here are some recommendations and guidelines to keep in mind when selecting a Bead Lysis Kit to use. If you have any questions, or need help selecting a kit, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The main things to consider are your desired buffer volume and the toughness of your sample. Pink and Red kits are best for soft samples, Green and Navy for tougher material, and Yellow kits are used to lyse bacteria. Pink and Green kits are appropriate for buffer volumes up to 200 ÎĽL; Red, Navy and Yellow kits can be used for volumes between 200 and 500 ÎĽL.

Note that Bead Lysis Kits are not appropriate for all samples. For special applications such as extracting live bacteria from tissue, grinding dry agricultural samples, or tissue dissociation, we recommend bulk beads. See the Protocols page for suggestions, or contact customer support so we can help you determine the best way to process your sample.

Kits for specific sample types

Consult the table below to identify the best kit for your sample. You can also search our homogenization protocols for your exact sample type; kit recommendations are included.

Find your sample type: Animal tissue | Plant matter | Cell culture | Small organisms


Sample Size and Buffer Volume

Bead Lysis Kits

Animal Tissue

Soft to medium samples such as brain, liver, kidney up to 200 µL of buffer, samples up to 100 mg PINK, GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 300 mg RED, NAVY
Tough samples such as tumor or cardiac muscle up to 200 µL of buffer, samples up to 100 mg GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 300 mg NAVY
Very tough samples such as bone, skin, or connective tissue 200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 200 mg NAVY
Extremely resilient samples such as umbilical cord Try our UFO beads.

Plant Matter

Soft leaves like Arabidopsis or spinach up to 200 µL of buffer, samples up to 100 mg PINK, GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 300 mg RED, NAVY
Tough leaves like oak, fruit, slender stems, roots up to 200 µL of buffer, samples up to 50 mg GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 200 mg NAVY
Small or soft seeds, rice grains 200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 150 mg NAVY
Soft macroalgae(e.g., Codium) up to 200 µL of buffer, samples up to 100 mg PINK, GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 300 mg RED, NAVY
Filamentous or tough algae (e.g., Pithophera) up to 200 µL of buffer, samples up to 50 mg GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 200 mg NAVY
Very hard seeds, such as dried soy, corn, etc. Try our Bullet Blender Storm 5 with special beads. Ask us for details.

Cell Culture

Bacteria 200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, pellets up to 300 µL YELLOW
Mammalian tissue culture up to 200 µL of buffer, pellets up to 100 µL PINK
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, pellets up to 300 µL RED
Yeast up to 200 µL of buffer, pellets up to 100 µL PINK
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, pellets up to 300 µL RED
Microalgae (e.g., Haematococcus) up to 200 µL of buffer, pellets up to 100 µL PINK
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, pellets up to 300 µL RED

Small Organisms

Insects: soft-bodied insects such as fruit flies and honeybees up to 200 µL of buffer, samples up to 100 mg PINK, GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 300 mg RED, NAVY
Insects: Hard, light insects such as ticks up to 200 µL of buffer, samples up to 50 mg GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 150 mg NAVY
Nematodes (C. elegans, etc.) up to 200 µL of buffer, samples up to 100 mg PINK, GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 300 mg RED, NAVY
Zebrafish up to 200 µL of buffer, larvae up to 100 mg PINK, GREEN
200 µL to 600 µL of buffer, samples up to 300 mg RED (larvae only), NAVY

Let Us Design Your Protocol for You!

We’ll give you a pre-optimized protocol that we GUARANTEE will homogenize your samples consistently and reproducibly.

Three tubes with unhomogenized mouse femur.
Before
Three tubes with homogenized mouse femur.
After

If you purchase a Bullet Blender, you’ll get a 30-day money-back guarantee!

Try our protocol with no risk. We’re certain that you’ll love the Bullet Blender.

Let Us Design Your Protocol for You!

We’ll give you a pre-optimized protocol that we GUARANTEE will homogenize your samples consistently and reproducibly.

Three tubes with unhomogenized mouse femur.
Before
Three tubes with homogenized mouse femur.
After

If you purchase a Bullet Blender, you’ll get a 30-day money-back guarantee!

Try our protocol with no risk. We’re certain that you’ll love the Bullet Blender.

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