I am out of LN, and I have no choice but to actually just use a dry ice bath to freeze my samples because I need to transport my leaf samples.
For context I will be performing RNA extraction of the plant virus present in the samples. Eventually, characterization by RT-PCR and sequencing.
I have done flash freezing with LN and directly grinded my plant samples in mortar and pestle in the past. But then I will need to store the collected leaf samples in a container (with dry ice) and then travelling to the lab for the actual RNA extraction process.
How do I go about it, do I just dip my entire plant leaf sample in the dry ice-alcohol bath? Or do I cut them to smaller pieces and store them in centrifuge tubes and then submerge it while waiting for my samples to freeze?
Hmm, I would vote for putting the samples in tubes then freezing. While the direct dip would be a very fast freeze, I worry that your samples will break and then it would be easy to have cross contamination. Plus, you'll need to get them in tubes anyway. You could also look into a product called RNA later. It's a liquid for storing samples for future RNA extraction. Room temperature samples are good up to a week. Even if it is warm at your field site, 37-degree samples are good for a whole day.
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