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<br />Laboratory Work <br /> <br />As stated in the trip descriptions and field methods, fish and/or tissues were stored in 70% ETOH <br />or placed on dry ice and transferred to freezers at -200 C or -950 C until laboratory processing <br />was feasible. We began processing and accessioning the fish in September 2001, including <br />tissue removal and archiving, preservation of specimens, and assignment of BYU musewn <br />accession and population numbers. Because of the high nwnber of specimens, processing and <br />accessioning offish continued through April, 2002 (Table 3). In total, over 1100 fish were <br />accessioned in this period. Fin clips had to be assigned a catalogue number and collection <br />information had to be entered on a database. <br /> <br />Whole fish were held in a -950 C freezer. Processing of the frozen whole fish samples included <br />thawing the fish, the removal of tissues for DNA extraction, and the assignment of museum <br />numbers for the tissues and specimens so that cross referencing with the vouchers will be <br />possible in the future. The vouchers were fixed in formalin and then transferred to alcohol and <br />accessioned into the collection at the Monte L. Bean Life Science Musewn at Brigham Young <br />University. Depending upon the size of the specimen, between two to three tissue samples <br />(approximately 1.2 g of tissue per sample) were taken. One sample tube was preserved with <br />95% ETOH. The other tubes were archived in an ultracold freezer. The tubes were labeled with <br />the BYU accession nwnber. The alcohol preserved fm clips were also assigned BYU musewn <br />catalog nwnbers for bookkeeping and accessioning purposes. Approximately half of each fin <br />sample was used for DNA extraction, although in some cases the entire sample was utilized if <br />either the first isolation failed or the fin samples were very small. <br /> <br />Small fish are processed in the same way except that the tissues removed for DNA extractions <br />were from whole fish already preserved in 70% ETOH. There were placed in a single tube <br />containing 95% ETOH. Fish preserved in ETOH can have additional tissue removed directly <br />from them in the future, if needed. <br /> <br />The DNA remaining after amplification is also archived. It is stored by population nwnber, in a <br />-200 C freezer. BYU accession numbers are included on the tubes so that the material can be <br />accessed in the future if necessary (Table 3). <br /> <br />We initiated isolation of DNA from speckled dace tissue in October 2001. Dace were selected as <br />the first species for DNA procedures since they were the most commonly collected and were <br />more numerous than the other three species. Total DNA was isolated using the PureGene <br />isolation kit (Gentra Systems, Minn., MN). Protocols for this isolation procedure are as follows: <br />(1) Add 600 ~l of PureGene Cell Lysis Solution to a clean 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube; (2) Add <br />20-50 mg of tissue to the tube containing PureGene Cell Lysis Solution and homogenize the <br />tissue by cutting it into small pieces; (3) Incubate the lysate at 650 C for 15-60 minutes; (4) Add <br />3 ~l of Proteinase K Solution (20 mg/ml) to the lysate and incubate at 550 C for 3 hours to <br />overnight; (5) Add 3~1 of RNase A solution (4 mg/ml) to the lysate; (6) Mix the sample by <br />inverting the tube 25 times and incubate at 370 C for 15-60 minutes; (7) Cool the sample to room <br />temperature and add 200 ~l of Pure Gene Protein Precipitation Solution to the RNase A treated <br /> <br />20 <br />