PCR inhibition by U.V.

[Lawrence P. Casson]

In article <CKns5J.HnB at news.cis.umn.edu>,
Robert Horton <horton at molbio.cbs.umn.edu> wrote:
>Richard Near (rocket1 at bu.edu) wrote:
>: 
>: Also I have heard that just storing oligo's for
>: long periods in water at -20 C. will result in
>: the oligo's being less efficient for PCR..
>
>I've had oligos stored frozen in unbufferred water at -20 for a couple of years
>that still work fine...
>

There may be some problem with depurination of oligos in unbuffered
water.  While I haven't had problems with high concentration stocks of
oligos, it seems that dilute oligos (0.5uM) don't last very long at -20.
On the other hand, I've never had problems with 10uM dilutions as long
as I didn't leave them at room temp. for too long.

Larry

lpcasson at phoenix.princeton.edu