Preservation of Nucleic Acid Integrity in Guanidine Thiocyanate Lysates of Whole Blood

A. V. Kravchenko, E. V. Chetverina^#, and A. B. Chetverin

^#Phone: (4967) 73-89-17; fax: (495) 632-78-71; e-mail: helena@vega.protres.ru
Institute of Protein Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow oblast, 142290, Russia
Received: April 14, 2006; in final form: May 15, 2006

Abstract: High-molecular-mass RNA and DNA have been shown to retain their integrity for three days at room temperature, no less than two weeks at +4°C, and more than a year at −20°C when whole blood samples are stored as lysates containing 4 M guanidine thiocyanate. Storage time at room temperature can be prolonged at least up to 14 days if nucleic acids were precipitated by two volumes of isopropanol. This preservation technique allows storage and transportation of samples at ambient temperature and is completely compatible with the procedure of subsequent isolation of nucleic acids.

Key words: DNA, guanidine thiocyanate, preservation, RNA, whole blood

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry 2006, 32 (6): 547-551