• Nagaraj Perumal, Rajeev Kumar Jain, Rakesh Shrivastava, Jaya Lalwani, and Deepti Chaurasia.
• State Virology Laboratory, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
• J Lab Physicians. 2020 Dec 1; 12 (4): 268-270.

AbstractObjectives  The present COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an increased need for molecular diagnostic testing. Delay in the specimen processing and suboptimal storage of suspected samples in laboratories leads to degradation of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA. Viral lysis buffers from RNA extraction kits have the potential to stabilize RNA. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the stability of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in viral lysis buffer at different temperatures and time periods. Materials and Methods  Aliquots of samples with known SARS-CoV-2 RNA were processed in viral lysis buffers simultaneously, stored separately at 2 to 8°C and 22 to 28°C for 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours. SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA was extracted from each aliquot and analyzed using multiplex real-time PCR. Results  SARS-CoV-2 RNA in samples placed in viral lysis buffer was stable for 48 hours at both 2 to 8°C and 22 to 28°C temperatures. Slight decline in the viral RNA quantity was found on aliquots tested after 48 hours of both the temperatures. Conclusions  Viral lysis buffer maintains the integrity of SARS-CoV-2 RNA for up to 48 hours even at room temperature and supports delayed diagnosis with an overwhelming sample load in testing laboratories.The Indian Association of Laboratory Physicians. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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