DNA Degradation: The Effects of Oil Blue A on Various Storage Times and Temperatures

Oil Blue A was diluted and then was mixed in with M719 genomic DNA, and then placed in-solution and dried on glass microscope slides. Both types of DNA solutions, in-solution and dried, were placed in two temperatures, one being room temperature and the other being -20ºC (freezer). For in-solution samples, they were studied at time 0 hour, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, and 24 hours. For the dried slides, at 0 hour, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, and 24 hours. The dried slides also had an extended period study where the times were: day 1, day 2, day 14, day 28, day 42, day 56, day 84, day 112, day 140. A standard organic extraction was performed over three days. DNA was then quantified using the Applied Biosystems 7500 Real-Time PCR System. There were no apparent trends that appeared with DNA quantity or DNA degradation being accelerated due to the Oil Blue A being mixed in with the DNA solution. However, compared to our standards it seems like the degradation index could be slightly higher with Oil Blue A, but the results were not significant to make this conclusion. No definitive conclusion can be reached on whether time and or temperature impacted the DNA quantity and DNA degradation readings as all the results when examined proved to be insignificant. This could be due to the quality of DNA that we used, or the amount of DNA used. Furthermore, continued research would be necessary to single out if Oil Blue A does indeed cause degradation within DNA samples in various storage conditions over time.