Old ethanol preserved specimens are not a good source for DNA
sample because ethanol degregates the DNA after a while ( a few
years). Not very old samples could be used, but with caution.

At least it what we see on works been done here in south Brazil
with Veronicellidae.

Working with old DNA is always hard.

Fabio Wiggers

 --- bivalve <[log in to unmask]> escreveu:
> Dan Graf tried getting DNA from dried up bits of muscle tissue
> on ca. 100-year old museum specimens of extinct freshwater
> mussel species.  He did not get much useful data, though he
> was able to amplify a short piece.  DNA breaks down quickly,
> especially with water and heat  (This is why DNA preservation
> in amber doesn't work-it seals water in).  If a specimen was
> put into ethanol 200 years ago, there's a better chance of
> some DNA preservation.  Dried specimens provide some hope of
> DNA preservation, if they dried quickly and have stayed cool
> and dry.
>
> It also depends on what information you hope to get and how
> desperate you are.  Traces of DNA may remain a long time, but
> getting a sequence long enough to be useful is difficult.
> Contamination is also major problem.  I would be extremely
> skeptical of any claim to get DNA from an old mussel shell in
> our lab because there's so much modern mussel DNA around the
> lab, for example.
>
>     Dr. David Campbell
>     Old Seashells
>     University of Alabama
>     Biodiversity & Systematics
>     Dept. Biological Sciences
>     Box 870345
>     Tuscaloosa, AL  35487-0345 USA
>     [log in to unmask]
>
> That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand
> Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G.
> Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa
>
>
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