Protecting RNA in the jungle

[Peter Ellis]

boj at bot.ku.dk wrote:
>Hi
>
>I am going on a trip to collect RNA samples from flower buds in the 
>jungle of plants that cannot be cultivated. It is impossible to bring 
>liquid nitrogen on the trip, and I won't get into a lab for 2-3 weeks. 
>What do I do.
>
>I have thought of collecting the material in Eppendorph tubes, add 1 ml 
>og 2.5 M LiCl and crush the material with a pistil. Close the tube and 
>leave it until I get to a lab
>
>Or
>
>Collecting the material in an Eppendorph tube, add 1 ml og  4M guanidine 
>isothiocyanate, 25mM sodium citrate, pH7, 0.5% sarcosyl, 100mM 
>b-mercaptoethanolm, crush the material and leave it until I get to a lab.
>
>Will any of these methods leave the RNA intact or are there other methods?

Would RNALater (Ambion) work, or is it not suitable for plants?  Works 
a treat for animal tissue - just cut the tissue to blocks a couple of 
mm across, and submerge in 10x volume of RNALater.  It's then stable at 
room temperature or on ice for weeks.

Peter