It should be noted that nucleic acid-based detection devices do not directly detect non-nucleic acid targets such as toxins, as inherent in the technology. However, toxins may be indirectly detected via the presence of residual DNA fragments of the organism used to produce the toxin. Residual DNA fragments from the organism used to produce a toxin are typically present at low levels even in the purest of toxin preparations, and fragments are most likely present in higher concentrations in crude preparations.