Hoow about MOONSHINE?
-----Original Message-----
From: David Campbell <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, December 10, 1999 8:40 AM
Subject: Preservative (was Re: Dredge Material)


>>How well would grain alcohol products, such as Everclear, work in
preserving
>>useful genetic material? I think that is the highest proof ethanol
available to
>>the layman.
>
>I have not experimented myself, but I believe even gin is strong enough to
>preserve DNA.  You might want to change the ethanol after leaving the
>specimen in for a day or so to compensate for dilution by the water that
>was in the specimen.
>
>You can get over 180 proof by distilling it yourself, but it might be
>difficult convincing the police that your still is for scientific research.
>
>
>>Also, how long are ethanol preserved specimens viable for such research?
>
>I keep my samples in a freezer once I get back from collecting.  The
>longest I have kept specimens before keeping them cold is about two weeks.
>I have gotten DNA from samples kept in the freezer for a few years.  I have
>not gotten good DNA from museum samples collected several years ago, but I
>do not know what preservatives were used nor the conditions during storage.
>More intensive effort might get useful DNA out of older material.
>
>As long as the specimens are preserved promptly, the DNA will be stable for
>a while, but I do not know what the upper limit would be.  Certainly, you
>could wait until you had collected and sorted several specimens and then
>send them by ordinary mail to the appropriate lab.
>
>
>David Campbell
>
>"Old Seashells"
>
>Department of Geological Sciences
>CB 3315 Mitchell Hall
>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
>Chapel Hill NC 27599-3315
>USA
>
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>
>"He had discovered an unknown bivalve, forming a new genus"-E. A. Poe, The
>Gold Bug
>