Comments
Guanidinium thiocyanate can also be used to deactivate a virus, such as the influenza virus that caused the Spanish flu in 1918, so that it can be safely studied. This application is likely due to its denaturing activity.
Literature
(1) Jefferson, R.A. et al. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83, 8447-8451. β-Glucuronidase from E. coli as a gene-fusion marker. (2) Jefferson, R.A. et al. (1987) EMBO J. 6, 3901-3907. GUS fusions: β-Glucuronidase as a sensitive gene fusion marker in higher plants.