Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!know!news.cs.indiana.edu!ariel.unm.edu!KIM@m44.unm.edu
From: kim@m44.unm.edu
Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts
Subject: Re: Seeking alternatives to silanizing gel plates
Message-ID: <0094729D.7869AB00@m44.unm.edu>
Date: 15 Apr 91 17:28:40 GMT
References: <384.2803536d@mbcl.rutgers.edu>,<1991Apr11.163024.9063@pslu1.psl.wisc.edu>
Reply-To: kim@m44.unm.edu
Organization: UNM Cancer Center, Albuquerque, NM
Lines: 18


>In article <384.2803536d@mbcl.rutgers.edu>, kliman@mbcl.rutgers.edu writes:
>     (stuff omitted)
>We coat one side of one plate with Rain-X (available from hardware stores).
>Other people spray their plates with Pam. In either case, it is unnecessary
>to treat with silanization.
>                    
I like the idea of cheap household products that can do the same functions as
expensive "biotechnology" stuff.  I have been told, as part of the oral
tradition of the lab where I work, that glassware and plasticware to be used in
handling RNA should be silanized to prevent adherence and 'hold-up' of nucleic
acids.  This is applied to micropipet tips, micro-tubes, and columns for
poly(A)+ selection.  Does anyone have any idea why Rain-X cannot be used for
this purpose?  I imagine that Rain-X out of an unopened bottle is as free of
RNAases as other factory-fresh reagents, or could treated surfaces be
autoclaved for good measure?

Daniel Kim