isoamyl alcohol

[4700gbera at umbsky.cc.umb.edu]

In article <3hol30$gla at news.ycc.yale.edu>, burbly at minerva.cis.yale.edu (Marc A. Borbely) writes:
>i have looked everywhere but can't find an answer:
>why in the world is isoamyl alcohol used together with phenol and 
>chloroform for extraction of nucleic acids?

I remember reading somewhere also that it's included to cut down on foaming
and to make the gunk at the interface more compact. I think it does make
a difference but it's been a while since I did an extraction without it, so
my memory may be a bit subjective...

-gb