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Ancient DNA Extraction from Plants

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Ancient DNA

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 840))

Abstract

A variety of protocols for DNA extraction from archaeological and paleobotanical plant specimens have been proposed. This is not surprising given the range of taxa and tissue types that may be preserved and the variety of conditions in which that preservation may take place. Commercially available DNA extraction kits can be used to recover ancient plant DNA, but modifications to standard approaches are often necessary to improve yield. In this chapter, I describe two protocols for extracting DNA from small amounts of ancient plant tissue. The CTAB protocol, which I recommend for use with single seeds, utilizes an incubation period in extraction buffer and subsequent chloroform extraction followed by DNA purification and suspension. The PTB protocol, which I recommend for use with gourd rind and similar tissues, utilizes an overnight incubation of pulverized tissue in extraction buffer, removal of the tissue by centrifugation, and DNA extraction from the buffer using commercial plant DNA extraction kits.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 409 Carpenter Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Logan Kistler

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  1. Logan Kistler
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Correspondence to Logan Kistler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biolog, University of California Santa Cruz, A414 Earth & Marine Sciences, Santa Cruz, 16802, California, USA

    Beth Shapiro

  2. , Department of Biology (Area 2), University of York, Heslington, York, YO 105DD, United Kingdom

    Michael Hofreiter

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Kistler, L. (2012). Ancient DNA Extraction from Plants. In: Shapiro, B., Hofreiter, M. (eds) Ancient DNA. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 840. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-516-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-516-9_10

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-515-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-516-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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