Avoiding adsorption of DNA to polypropylene tubes and denaturation of short DNA fragments.

Abstract

Two problems can arise when working with small quantities of DNA in polypropylene tubes: first, significant amounts of DNA can become lost by sticking to the tube walls; second, short DNA fragments tend to denature when binding to polypropylene. In addition, DNA also tends to denature upon dehydration. We have found that a simple way to solve these problems is by using polyallomer tubes instead of polypropylene and by avoiding certain salts, such as sodium acetate, when drying DNA.