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<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)"> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PostalCode"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/>  <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> Hi all,<o:p></o:p> As most of you are probably aware, transporting and shipping samples in ethanol or on dry ice, especially across borders is increasingly difficult. In the past, I have preserved my samples in 95% ethanol, dumped most of the ethanol from the vials and took them as checked luggage on the plane with me. Those were relatively small amounts and I have never run into problems with the airlines or customs. However, I might have to take a larger amount of samples from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Mexico</st1:country-region> to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> and am thinking about alternatives to ethanol. This might be of general interest for anybody working in remote locations where freezing is not an option and where trying to ship something with a reliable service could be a nightmare.<o:p></o:p> I found the following reference which compares different field preservation methods for a variety of marine invertebrates for DNA analyses, including a polychaete (Phragmatopoma):<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Dawson, M. N., Raskoff, K. A. and Jacobs, D. K. 1998. Field preservation of marine invertebrate tissue for DNA analysis. Mol. Mar. Biol. Biotech. 7: 145-152.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> According to their study, storage in DMSO-NaCl preserves DNA for months even if kept at 25 C. The visual appearance of the specimens was still good too. Does anybody else have experience with this method for polychaetes?<o:p></o:p> Other, less successful, alternatives mentioned are: CTAB-NaCl, “Queen’s” lysis buffer and urea buffer. RNAlater should work too but is quite expensive. Any other insights?<o:p></o:p> Thanks,<o:p></o:p> Anja   <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Anja Schulze, Ph.D<o:p></o:p> Assistant Professor<o:p></o:p> Department of Marine Biology<o:p></o:p> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Texas</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">A&M</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> at <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Galveston</st1:place></st1:City><o:p></o:p> 5007 Avenue U<o:p></o:p> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Galveston</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">TX</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">77551</st1:PostalCode></st1:place><o:p></o:p> Phone: 409-740-4540<o:p></o:p> Email: <a href="mailto:schulzea@tamug.edu">schulzea@tamug.edu</a><o:p></o:p> <a href="http://www.tamug.edu/schulze/">http://www.tamug.edu/schulze/</a><o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> </div> </body> </html>

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