Some time ago Dick Campbell (U.C. Irvine) raised the issue of how to preserve cnidarians in a way that would allow one to go back years later and get their DNA for analysis. This is an important question for several reasons. One would, for example, like to be able to analyze type specimens of various species or strains (which may have been collected many years before) for comparison to newly collected material. One might want to look for DNA polymorphisms as a way of doing population genetics on a species for which individuals collected from diverse locations are available. Thomas Bosch (Zoologisches Institut, Munich) asked Svante Paabo (Zoologisches Institut, Munich) for the best way to preserve samples for future DNA analysis. Svante is a world leader in analysis of ancient DNA and thus has a great deal of experience with regard to DNA preservation. Svante said that the best and safest way to store DNA "forever" is by keeping the tissue in either 70% or 100% ETOH. So there you have it. Just drop your hydra into a vial of ethanol, seal the vial well, and put it away somewhere safe.
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