How is RNAse contamination in RNA based experiments prevented?

Question

Does anyone have any suggestions to prevent RNAse contamination when working with RNA?I tend to have issues with degradation regardless of whether I use DEPC treated / RNAse free water and filtered pipette tips.

Answer 1

Based on my experience with DNA contamination (different problem but can be due to similar causes), there could be a number of potential issues. First, how clean is the area you work in? Are you working under a hood or on the open lab bench? Also, how is your pipetting technique? It is possible that accidentally touching, even briefly, the edge of a tube or other surface can introduce contamination. Another possibility may be that your reagents are contaminated. I work with DNA primarily in a clinical genetics lab so whenever we have some sort of contamination, it is typically due to one of the above issues which could also lead to RNAse contamination.Hope this helps!