How to archive (long and precious) DNA samples for (potentially) long time?

[Jiri Dluhos]

Hi colleagues,

I split this question off into a separate thread for legibility...

Please, what way of preservation would you choose for DNA samples, provided that they are (all three):

* precious (hard or even impossible to recollect when lost)

* possibly very long (including whole human/mammalian genomes)

* needed to be stored for long time (years or tens of years)

(More specifically, I'm trying to save the genome of a talented person precious to me, with hope that, in case of a disastrous event, the specific talents and potential will not be lost completely. Feel free to call me naive...)

I suspect the normal ice won't be enough here. Intuitively I would choose storing it in deep freeze in rare gas, but that needs a constant supply of energy, which is expensive and inconvenient.

Any idea of another technique? Suspending in some kind of resin, maybe?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

    Jiri Dluhos

[shamrock]

Store it dry on sterile filter paper in a file cabinet, you might want extra copies dispersed around the world in case of earthquake, asteroid, or other catastrophic event. 

There are special filter papers available (which is how forensic samples are stored), I've always just used sterilized whatman filter paper wrapped in aluminum foil. 

DNA is remarkably stable when dry (half life somewhere around 500 years). 

[Mega]

If you have the money, get it sequenced, then you can just print it out in ~ 50 years. 

[Jiri Dluhos]

On Tuesday, February 26, 2013 7:47:26 AM UTC+1, Mega wrote:

If you have the money, get it sequenced, then you can just print it out in ~ 50 years. 

Well, I have some money but not identifinite (unfortunately :-) ). I could probably afford one full sequencing, but then I should pick a sequencing company I trust (if they return me garbage, I am lost).

Therefore, another question (please pardon my inquisitiveness, I'm pretty new in this field): is there a reasonably trustable company that does full-genome sequencing?

At wikipedia, I have found Gene-by-Gene, now www.dnadtc.com, with price $6,995 per genome, but minimum number of genomes to process is three, so in fact 3*6,995. This would drain almost all of my current resources so I'd like to be reasonably sure that the results will be appropriate...

Any experience with this company? Or another advice? I will be glad for any information.

Best regards,

    Jiri Dluhos

[Jeswin]

On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 7:01 AM, Jiri Dluhos
<jiri.blueb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Therefore, another question (please pardon my inquisitiveness, I'm pretty
> new in this field): is there a reasonably trustable company that does
> full-genome sequencing?
>

Make sure the information is 100% confidential. Since it is a new
area, no one wants insurance companies, employers, governments, etc.
to get hold of that data. I heard that some insurance companies (USA,
I think?) ask for the results of genome sequence if you get one.
That's rumor I heard. Can anyone verify that?

[Cathal Garvey]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

Nothing can stop an interested government agency from demanding
records from a company, particularly in places where there are
"expedited" methods of demanding information without warrants or court
orders, PATRIOT act style. So, if you want 100% confidentiality, order
from a company in a country where you don't care if the information is
leaked, and order it under a false name so it's hard to attribute to
you, and then kill all the lab technicians and sysadmins.

Just in case, submit a false DNA sample so they don't have your real
DNA, either.

I'm being silly of course but it's just the problem with central DNA
sequencing; there is no guarantee of privacy or rights to anything.
Just look at 23andMe: All friendly and goodwill and
let's-learn-together, then they patent your DNA at the first opportunity.

Never trust a corporation larger than your monkey circle to be
trustworthy. :)

- --
Please note my new email: cathal...@cathalgarvey.me
PGP Key: 988B9099
Bitmessage: BM-opSmZfNZHSzGDwdD5KzTnuKbzevSEDNXL
Twitter: @onetruecathal
Code: https://gitorious.org/~cathalgarvey
Blog: http://www.indiebiotech.com
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/
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=oppq
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----