Coisolation of genomic and organelle DNAs from 15 genera and 31 species of plants

Abstract

A large number of medicinal and aromatic plant species naturally grown in the Mediterranean basin of Turkey contain and produce secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, Xavanoids, phenols, polysaccharides, terpenes, and quinones that are used in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and pesticide industries. Many medicinal and aromatic plant species are undergoing domestication and cultivar development. Unfortunately some of these plant species are among the most endangered species which need to be protected to ensure their sustainable use in this region. However, medicinal and aromatic plants under study contain exceptionally high amounts of polysaccharides, polyphenols, and other secondary metabolites. Our preliminary studies showed that most medicinal and aromatic plant species were recalcitrant to several DNA extraction protocols tested including one commercial DNA extraction kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA, USA). Although the kit used produced high-quality DNA, the amount of DNA was very low for many samples and it could not produce DNA in some samples. Also several other protocols described for plant DNA isolation failed to produce good quality and quantity of DNA or failed in PCR or restriction enzyme digestions from some of the Origanum, Salvia, Thymus, Sideritis, Saturaja, Calaminta, Rosemarunus, and Nerium spp., indicating that these plants contain exceptionally high amounts of secondary metabolites that interfere with DNA isolation [1–3]. These situations necessitate the development of protocols for isolating DNA from diVerent plant species. To address this problem we developed