Worm Decontamination with Clorox

  1. From a plate with plenty of eggs, wash off with M9 into a 15 ml conical tube.  Eggs may stick on bacterial lawn, so gently wipe plate with glass pipette to loosen. 
  2. Spin down (use high speed on ancient centrifuge, for about one minute).
  3. Resuspend in 2mls decontamination solution (see below).
  4. Let sit 3-10 minutes*, hitting tube on table occasionally to break up worms. Watch carefully! Move to step 5 when no worms are visible in tube (they have dissolved).
  5. Pellet 4 minutes in centrifuge (high speed).
  6. Suspend in 2 mls M9.
  7. Pellet 1 minute.
  8. Repeat steps 6 and 7.
  9. Remove supernatant (leave a couple drops for transfer), pipet eggs onto a plate with a Pasteur pipet.
*time varies based on how new the bleach is, make sure it is not too old

Worm Decontamination Solution

5N NaOH                       0.2ml                  5ml                    20ml

Clorox                             0.4ml               10ml                    40ml

M9                                  1.4ml               35ml                    140ml

Total                                  2ml                50ml                    200ml