Forgot my e-mail address - (Apr/10/2001 )

What is the molecular basis behind the use of guanidinium thiocynate in RNA extractions?

RNA is notoriously susceptible to degradation. All methods of RNA isolation use strong denaturants to inhibit endogenous RNases for isolation of intact RNA. Guanidine thiocyanate is one of the most effective protein denaturants known and is frequently used for RNA isolation.

Main reason is to suppress cellular RNases as efficient as possible. Guanidinium thiocyanate is one of the most powerful protein denaturants, both cation and anion denaturing proteins.