I have a large number of old fire ant collections mostly from the 1980s, but some go back to the 1950s. I am trying to determine the likely quality of the DNA in these samples.
Does anyone have a paper or two they could recommend which reports on the quality of DNA in old alcohol samples? Specifically I am interested in 1) the type of alcohol, 2) the percentage of alcohol, 3) the age of the specimens, and 4) other factors that might be important. Also, I would like to know about samples that have dried out.
My guess is that DNA quality will be very bad, but I would like to see some data on the subject before I decide how much effort to put into conserving the collections.
Thanks,
Sanford
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Sanford D. Porter, PhD
Research Entomologist
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USDA-ARS, CMAVE
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