A simple and efficient protocol for isolation of functional RNA from plant tissues rich in secondary metabolites

A protocol is described for rapid RNA isolation from various plant species and tissues rich in polyphenolics and polysaccharides. The method is based on the Nucleon PhytoPure™ system without the use of phenol. The procedure can be completed within 1 h and many samples can be processed at the same time. The yield ranged from 240 μg up to 3 mg per gram of tissue with an average purity measured as A260/280 of 1.85. The RNA was of sufficient quality for use in RT-PCR reactions. Quantitation of single-stranded cDNA was carried out with the RiboGreen™ reagent and of PCR products with the PicoGreen™ reagent.