Isolation and purification of functional total RNA from blue-grained wheat endosperm tissues containing high levels of starches and flavonoids

Abstract

Isolation of intact, functional total RNA from blue-grained wheat endosperms containing high levels of starches, polysaccharides, and flavonoids was extremely difficult using traditional methods. We describe here a modified SDS/phenol method that can be used to isolate total RNA from blue-grained wheat endosperms. This method solved the problems of RNA degradation, contamination, and low yield due to binding and/or co-precipitation with starches, polysaccharides, and flavonoids. The isolated total RNA was of high quality and undegraded as determined by spectrophotometric readings and denaturing agarose gel analysis. Quality of the total RNA isolated using our protocol was further assessed by RT-PCR and northern blot hybridization. Using this efficient procedure, 350–400 μg of total RNA was routinely obtained from 1 g of blue-grained wheat seeds.