AN EFFICIENT REPRODUCIBLE METHOD FOR EXTRACTION OF HIGH QUALITY RNA FROM KODO MILLET (PASPALUM SCROBICULATUM L.) LEAVES

Abstract

Kodomillet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.) is a rich source of novel genes for tolerance to different abiotic stresses as salinity, drought and high temperature. The molecular techniques demands RNA of high quality to isolate stress responsive genes. The leaves of Kodomillet contains high amounts of secondary metabolites along with polysaccharides, these organic components frequently interfere with RNA extraction and purification which in-turn results in poor RNA both qualitatively and quantitatively. Such RNA preparations hinder the downstream molecular biology studies such as cDNA library construction, qRT-PCR and Northern blotting. Since, there are no earlier reports on the isolation of RNA from kodomillet, here we report a reproducible method with slight modifications in the standard sucrose- sodium chloride extraction buffer and lithium chloride (LiCl₂) was used for selectively precipitation of RNA in the final step.  The isolated RNA proved amenable to carry out the further downstream molecular studies.