Hi, my name is Fred, and I’m currently working on my Ph.D. dissertation. As a part of this process, we´re looking to characterize the microbial component of an agave fermentation process. However, the chemical complexity of agave plants (sugars, phenols, oxalacetate) has made it impossible to obtain enough DNA. Could magnetic beads be incorporated into the lysis steps to sequestrate DNA before the other compounds? On the other hand, is a phenol: chloroform:isoamylic purification step viable when using magnetic beads?