Does reagent quality play a role in reproducibility of experimental data?

Research findings are often scrutinized in peer-reviewed journals, and the researcher's reputation and the lasting significance of his or her findings rests on the reproducibility of the protocols in an entirely independent setting, by an independent researcher, using independent equipment. [...]choosing a reagent that performs reliably, particularly in more sensitive applications, is a critical first step toward improving the reproducibility of research. [...]a QC test that was developed many years ago may no longer be sensitive enough to satisfy today's molecular diagnostic applications. NEB's ligase production methodologies incorporate extensive QCs that include testing for: * Endonuclease activity using agarose gel electrophoresis to examine nicking of supercoiled DNA * Exonuclease activity by assessing the release of radioactive nucleotides following incubation of ligase with radiolabeled single- and double-stranded DNA * Non-specific DNase activity which is evaluated by agarose gel electrophoresis following incubation with a DNA substrate * Protein purity using SDS-PAGE to compare contaminating protein bands to the protein-of-interest * RNase activity which is assessed by gel electrophoresis following incubation (for two and 16 hours) with an RNA substrate * Functional testing, which encompasses blunt- and cohesive-end ligation and subsequent transformation efficiency The extreme purity of NEB's T4 DNA Ligase can be seen in Figure 1, where equivalent amounts of protein from alternate suppliers were analyzed side-by-side, and in Figure 2, where T4 DNA ligase samples from different suppliers were examined for contaminating nucleases.