Cleaning metal forceps and spatulas of DNA???

[James Herrick]

In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.951106203822.3723A-100000 at howard>, Rafael
Maldonado <rafael at howard.genetics.utah.edu> wrote:

> On Mon, 6 Nov 1995, Harry Witchel wrote:
> 
> > Hello contamination combatants!
> >       I am doing a lot of PCR which requires absolutely no contamination 
> > from one prep to the next, and also I am doing library screening.  To 
> > eliminate contaminating DNAs (especially from different species) I use
as much 
> > disposible plastic-ware as possible, I acid wash (fresh 1:10 HCl overnight) 
> > glass, but there are some things (metal spatulas and ceramic mortar and 
> > pestles, as well as the metal/teflon pestle from a dounce homogenizer)
which 
> > cannot be thrown away nor can they be acid washed.  
> 
> Autoclave them. I never got contamination from an autoclaved scalpel.
> (i.e. 121 C, 20 min). Also, glassware and some plasticware are autoclavable, 
> and you won't need that nasty acid stuff.

Autoclaving is not entirely foolproof, however. A method I use, and which
was suggested in a Biotechniques article a couple of years ago (sorry,
don't have the reference) was to treat surfaces with a solution of 10%
Clorox.

J.B. Herrick, Ph.D.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
jherrick at lanl.gov