[Nhcoll-l] eDNA voucher question

[John E Simmons]

Tom,
I am not sure I understand the question. Do you mean the fish are vouchers
from which DNA has been extracted and you want to keep the specimen
separate to link it to the DNA sample, or do you mean fish from which DNA
will be extracted in the future?

You will get contamination of the alcohol around the specimen from DNA from
other specimens if you house them all together because protein is extracted
over time by the alcohol (for example, see von Endt 1994, "Spirit
collections: a preliminary analysis of some organic materials found in the
storage fluid of mammals," Collection Forum 10(1):10-19). Whether that
contamination would affect the DNA in the fish specimen itself has not been
looked at, to my knowledge, but is an interesting question.

If you are storing these as whole-specimen vouchers from which DNA has
already been sampled, I would go with Andy's suggestion of vials with
polyester fiber plugs. If you are storing these for future DNA extraction,
then they should be in 95.6% ETOH if they must be kept in alcohol.

Please let me know if I have misunderstood your question.

--John

John E. Simmons
Writer and Museum Consultant
Museologica
*and*
Associate Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
*and*
Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima


On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 4:41 PM Thomas Labedz <tlabedz1 at unl.edu> wrote:

> Greetings from snowy central North America!
>
> Has anyone developed policy or protocol for the receipt, treatment, and
> maintenance of eDNA fish voucher specimens? Would you share? The individual
> fish are small and the researcher recommends keeping each individual in a
> separate container (how they were delivered) to prohibit cross
> contamination of DNA via the ethanol solution. That is understandable but
> will utilize lots of space and containers.
>
> Thomas
>
> Thomas E. Labedz, Collections Manager
>
> Division of Zoology and Division of Botany
>
> University of Nebraska State Museum
>
> Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.A.
>
> tlabedz1 at unl.edu
>
>
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