RNA extraction from trout embryos - (Jul/08/2010 )

Hi,
I've been having problems trying to extract RNA using TRI reagent from early stage trout embryos which have very small amounts of RNA and lots of lipid/protein. The problem seems to be that I get such small amounts of RNA that protein and phenol contamination becomes very evident causing very low 260/280 and 260/230 ratios. I've tried a high salt solution modifcation (NaCl and sodium citrate) of the isopropanol precipitation step and an additional ethanol/sodium acetate wash at the end of the protocol and both of these seem to remove some of the protein/phenol contamination, but also reduce my RNA yield further so the overall quality is still very bad.
If anyone has any ideas of anything else I can try that would be great!
Thanks

-tams-

you can remove phenol with chloroform (or chloroform/isoamyl alcohol).

-mdfenko-

I have a question regurading RNA extraction using the nano drop how do I determine weither or not my RNA is good where should the peak be between.

-apbrown-

mdfenko on Jul 8 2010, 04:12 PM said:

you can remove phenol with chloroform (or chloroform/isoamyl alcohol).

Thanks- I will give it a go.

-tams-