On Friday 12/4 I homogenized 6 P. astreoides samples that were part of a short-term (5 day) transplant experiment to look at gene expression. Collection and transplant details of these samples can be found in the previous post. These samples (Past 92, 93, and 94 from 11/20/15 and 11/25/15) are the only ones from my November Belize trip that were preserved in RNAlater. I prioritized dealing with these specimens since RNA preserved in RNAlater has a limited lifetime if not frozen. Half of these samples (the ones collected on 11/20) spent half their time at 4C, but then were kept at room temperature for about a week with the ones collected on 11/25. For each sample, I scraped the top tissue layer off the coral skeleton with a box cutter in a mortar chilled with dry ice, then ground the samples in the mortar with a pestle. I placed the homogenate in 15ml tubes kept chilled on dry ice. I put all samples in the -80°C freezer.