[DIYbio] Re: Home DNA isolation - youtube video

More on spit and DNA ; spit itself contains DNA, not necessary to get cheek cells, from the PGP:

Spit Our Way

 ""Here are a couple of fun facts about saliva that most people (including most scientists) don't know: most saliva is loaded with DNA, and the primary source of that DNA is blood cells. This has been shown by genotyping people with bone marrow transplants (1). The genotype of blood and saliva from transplant recipients is typically more similar to the genotype of the marrow donor than the pre-transplant genotype of the recipient (the genotype of the non-hematopoietic cells of the recipient is retained). This amazing discovery also demonstrates interesting and practical things about saliva biology, including that most DNA in it does not come from cheek or other epithelial cells. So, when we send you a collection kit there is no need to swab or abrade cheeks (or to make awful choking sounds). Just salivate and spit."" -- Preston Estep, PhD is the Director of Gerontology and leads the saliva collection effort at the Personal Genome Project at Harvard Medical School.


## Jonathan Cline
## jcline@ieee.org
## Mobile: +1-805-617-0223
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