X-Message-Number: 3173 Date: Fri, 23 Sep 1994 20:21:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Shrimp Chowder Date sent: 23-SEP-1994 20:18:23 >Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts >Path: biosci!bcm!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!utnut!oci!jimbo.oci.utoronto.ca >From: (jimbo) >Subject: Re: A grinding problem >Message-ID: <> >Sender: >Reply-To: (jimbo) >Organization: Ontario Cancer Institute - U of Toronto >X-Newsreader: InterCon TCP/Connect II 1.2 >References: <> >Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 16:54:47 GMT >Lines: 54 > >In article <>, > (Stacy Ferguson) writes: > >> In article <2qlrn5$> (Joseph >> C. Bagshaw) writes: >> >This is my second attempt to post this message. The first did't >> >get through, I'm a novice, and the local college computer center >> >speaks no known human language. Sorry for the noise. >> > >> >I have a problem for which someone out there may have a solution. >> >I need to prepare genomic DNA from frozen tissue (shrimp tails, >> >to be specific). The first step is to reduce the tail muscle, >> >still frozen, to as fine a powder as possible. Currently, I wrap the >> >tail in two or three layers of foil, place it on a metal block >> >on dry ice, and pound it with a hammer. This reduces the tail to >> >small chunks, which I then grind in a mortor and pestle on dry ice >> >until my arm aches. From there on the DNA extraction in a breeze, and >> >I get super quality DNA. This crude but effective pulverizing method >> >is OK for a limited number of samples, but the prospect of doing a few >> >dozen shrimp this way is pretty daunting. I'm looking for an >> >alternative that would facilitate rigorous grinding of >> >multilpe samples. Any suggestions would be appreciated. >> > >> >Joe Bagshaw >> >Department of Biology and Biotechnology >> >Worcester Polytechnic Institute >> >Worcester, MA 01609 >> > >> > >> >****. >****************HAVE GENES, WILL TRAVEL******************** >> > >> > >> >> First, I'm glad to see you're using a part of the shrimp that most >> people don't eat anyway. I'd hate to see good shrimp go to waste :) >> >> Will a Waring Blendor work? You can usually find them in big scientific >> supply catalogues like Fischer, Baxter, etc. You can buy small blender >> cups for scientific use. I've made liver powders and things like that >> using frozen tissue and dry ice for DNA preps. The only problem with >> this is that the cups aren't cheap, so if you plan on doing pcr or >> something where minor contamination would be a huge problem, then it >> would be prohibitively expensive to buy one cup per prep. The cup I >> used held about 50 ml but I know they come in smaller sizes. >> >> Stacy > >I used to know someone who extracted plant metabolites in a mortar and pestle >along with liquid nitrogen. She said that this made the frozen plant >material more brittle than dry ice did. You could give it a try. > > > > Jan (John) Coetzee. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3173