I wonder if someone can recommend any buffer to preserve plankton, more specific, arrow worms (Chaetognata) in a single solution, to prevent from using formalin. We need to store samples collected from the sea and we would like to prevent using formalin on the cruises, and as well as we currently need to split the sample into 2 , Ethanol for DNA analyses and Formalin for morpghological studies. Any recommendation?
Thanks!
Tamara
Hello Tamara Gurevich
Phosphate buffered formalin, borate-buffered formalin or even buffered formalin with aliquot of glycerol/glycerin have all been employed with varying degrees of success in the past and are still in practice. But to find a singular (not single, as there are many commercially available ones with added anti-biological agents) solution which will serve as the buffer as well as a preservative is in my mind oxymoronic since a buffer on its own cannot be a preservative as one used to resist changes cannot bring about necessary changes to prevent degradation. Sole ethanolic solutions are the best to work with for molecular analyses but it will not be wise to call them buffers.
Regards,
Dr. Abhishek Mukherjee
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