Hello!

Last week I found myself researching how different storage of cells in RLT buffer might affect the end results and found many different answers. Some say it is best to snap freeze the cells on dry ice, other say that room temperature is fine. Others mean that storage of cells on dry ice will severely affect the recovered yield. With all those different answers in mind I did a little test and thought id share it with the network.

I used equal amounts of BR5 mouse cells for each sample and then did different isolation methods, namely;

1. collect in lysis buffer, isolate RNA immediately, measure RNA, freeze on dry ice for 1h, measure concentration again

2. collect in lysis buffer, incubate in RT for 2h, isolate RNA & measure

3. collect in lysis buffer, incubate on ice for 2h, isolate RNA & measure

4. collect in lysis buffer, incubate on dry ice for 2h, isolate RNA & measure

I found that there is no significant difference in RNA yield between the treatments, on the short term. So, if you forget your samples in RT, you should be just fine!

Attached is a more detailed presentation of my findings

Best,

Linn