[Nhcoll-l] Best tissues to take for mammal specimens

[Mullon, Madeleine]

Hi Rebecca,

If I recall correctly, the tissue found to have the greatest genomic DNA load was spleen. However, seeing as it's impractical to locate the spleen on many small mammals, we opt for liver and muscle here at MCZ. Our current standard practice is to take 1 vial of liver and 1 vial of skeletal muscle for storage in our cryogenic collection. Our thinking is that the liver is more rich in DNA yield, and the muscle is more stable in long-term cold storage. This works for most of our specimens, which tend to be local species that are plentiful. If the specimen we are prepping is of particular interest or rarity, we will often take extra if the animal is large enough to do so. If the specimen is too decomposed, we may skip liver (since it autolyzes so quickly) and instead take 2 muscle samples. We don't typically save other tissue samples unless they have been specifically requested (heart tissue, skin samples in RNALater, etc.).

There was a good article out of Texas Tech about the cold preservation of different tissue types, and the time interval at which the genetic material degrades at different temperatures. Skeletal muscle is most stable over time, though not as high in yield as spleen or liver, which both tend to autolyze quickly. Here: 10.1093/jmammal/gyab009<http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyab009>

This is a different paper I found while I was looking for the aforementioned one, more to do with preservation of RNA in liver and spleen: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167391<https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0167391>

Best,

Madeleine Mullon
She/they
MCZ Mammalogy
[https://huctw.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/huctw_email_sig_2012_white.jpg?download=1]

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Hawkins, Rebecca K.
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2023 9:42 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best tissues to take for mammal specimens

Hello all,

Does anyone know of primary literature or have advice on the most useful tissue samples to take when preparing mammal specimens? We are looking to reevaluate what tissue samples we currently take and which tissues are stored together. We currently take three tissue tubes per specimen for storage in liquid nitrogen: 1) heart and kidney, 2) liver, and 3) muscle. Thank you.

Rebecca Hawkins (she/her)
Curatorial Associate
Sam Noble Museum
2401 Chautauqua Ave.
Norman, OK 73072
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