Does autoclaving destroy DNA

[jg374 from cam.ac.uk]

> 
> Hi,
>
> Does autoclaving (121C for 20mins) DNA destroy it? What I mean by "destroy" is to break the covalent bonds between adjacent nucleotides and NOT the breaking of ionic bonds between the two strands. I argue that 121C is well above the melting temperature of DNA (95C), which should do the trick.
>
> Keep your answers short and to the point please.

No. Although it break a lot of it into fragments <100mers. The melting 
temp refers ot the inter-strand bonds so is not relevant.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=npg&cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15223557&dopt=Abstract