Hi Cecilia,
If you ask for help, I guess this Acryloid managed to deeply infiltrate
the pores, right?
Have you tried to wash your powder? I have no idea what Acryloid is, so
I can't be specific, but I work with bones that have been heavily fixed
and I "wash" the fine powder with some PBS buffer to remove extra
paraformaldehyde. There might be a solution that could help you separate
the bone from the polymer?
Just an idea.
Or could you extract and fish out the DNA before the amplification step?
As for removing cross-links without damaging the DNA, if you find a
solution, I am VERY interested. What kind of cross-links do you think
you have? PTB will help you if you need something that breaks
cross-links in sugars. If your problem is cross-links between proteins
and/or DNA, then....no idea.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ancient DNA List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Cecilia Sosa
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 12:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: PTB
Dear all,
I am having trouble extracting DNA from some 1000yr bone samples that
have
been treated (20 yrs ago) with Paraloid B72 (ethy methacrylate
co-polymer,
also known as Acryloid B72).
Does anyone have any experience with this?
In the last Conference on Ancient DNA and Assoc. Biomolecules, Helen
Donoghue suggested that I tried PTB, which would disrupt any cross-link,
in
the case that was the problem. I think it is worth trying it, but cannot
find this
product.
Does anyone know where this 'strange chemical' can be purchased?
And does anyone have other suggestions/ideas?
Thank you very much,
Cecilia Sosa
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