<p>For comparison of extraction efficiency and RNA quality of whole blood stabilization tubes (PAXgene Blood RNA Tubes, Qiagen; Tempus Blood RNA Tubes, Life Technologies), blood was drawn from 47 probands of the LIFE and LIFE-AMI cohorts and RNA was isolated with 4 manual (white) and 2 (semi-)automated (light green) extraction kits. RNA quantity and quality was determined in 262 samples (20 extractions were lost due to handling errors). Samples from 12 probands were selected for RT and qRT-PCRs. Both steps were carried out with reagents from Qiagen or Life Technologies, respectively. Quantification of miRNA and mRNA expression was done using the ViiA7 Real-Time PCR System (Life Technologies). In <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0113298#pone.0113298.s001" target="_blank">Figure S1</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0113298#pone.0113298.s004" target="_blank">Table S2</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0113298#pone.0113298.s005" target="_blank">Table S3</a>, detailed information regarding the reaction setup for RT and qRT-PCR experiments is given. rct = reaction.</p