Guy Reeves (R.Guy.Reeves at ncl.ac.uk) wrote:
: Hi
: I am about to attempt to amplify DNA from
: formalin (= formaldehyde) preserved biological
: specimens ...
: I am starting form the premise that ... the
: difficulties in 200bp+ amplifications result form
: the formation of formalin catalysed protein
: DNA cross-linking...
Formaldehyde has been used for DNA-protein cross-linking because it is
reversible (so claim these authors):
Orlando, V. and Paro, R. (1993) Mapping polycomb-repressed domains in
the bithorax complex using in vivo formaldehyde cross-linked chromatin.
Cell 75:1187-1198 (Dec 17 1993).
They got the cross-links off by SDS-proteinase K treatment... but I
suspect that the cross-linking they dealt with wasn't as extensive as
you might find in preserved tissue. You could also check out the
following:
Solomon, M.J. and Varshavsky, A. (1985) Formaldehyde-mediated
DNA-protein crosslinking: a probe for in vivo chromatin structures.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:6470-6474.
-- Good luck.
____________________________________________________________
Will Fischer wfischer at indiana.edu
Department of Biology Lab: 812-855-2549
Jordan Hall
Indiana University FAX: 812-855-6705
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
