Cocktail sticks and toothpicks supplier

[Chi-kuang Wen]

Paul N Hengen (pnh at ncifcrf.gov) wrote:
: Chris Boyd (chrisb at hgu.mrc.ac.uk) wrote:

: > However inexpensive these plastic loops might be (and the same goes for
: > yellow tips), they are 100 to 1000 times as expensive as toothpicks. 
: > And they screw up the environment more when discarded!

: So, nobody can really confirm that wooden toothpicks are a problem for
: screening colonies by PCR????


I have been using wooden toothpicks to pick up the colonies for PCR, and
have no problem.  The only thing must be remembered is that the wooden tooth-
picks suck the PCR reaction solution if you leave them in the tubes too long.
I always pick a colony and resuspend in the PCR reaction quickly and discard
the toothpick.

I have tried the toothpicks from two different supplies and never got troubles.

Chi-Kuang