Can Nanodrop be used to check RNA integrity? - (Dec/03/2008 )

Hi friends, I have a Nanodrop 1000 in my laboratoy to cuantify both DNA and RNA after extraction. Actually I'm concerned about checking RNA integrity avoiding electrophoresis.

Do you know if absorbance profile of RNA is modified by degradation???

Maybe you wonder why not do I check myself. The answer: I don't know the integrity of my RNA becasuse I have not performed electrophoresis.

Thanks in advance!

-Luis SC-

QUOTE (Luis SC @ Dec 3 2008, 06:13 AM)

I use the 260/280 ratio given by the Nanodrop to judge RNA integrity rather than the actual peaks in the profile. It's not the best way to tell, but has been able to judge "good enough" for my assays.

-Cheamps-

you'll see 2 clear peaks for good RNA at absorbance 260/280: the smaller S rRNA and the bigger S rRNA, say 18S and 26S. Generally the higher S should be higher than the lower S peak. you can see RNA degradation when between these 2 peaks there are little peaks that are quite high and cannot be ignored.

-chrisbelle-