title: Isolation of nucleic acids from the sea anemone Condylactis gigantea (Cnidaria: Anthozoa).
abstract: Standard procedures for isolating nucleic acids from specialized tissues such as the mucus-containing tissues found in many marine organisms are, in many cases, not effective, resulting in isolates contaminated with polysaccharides that encumber subsequent analysis. A method is described for isolating nucleic acids from the sea anemone Condylactis gigantea (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) using the compound hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). This substance has historically been effective in producing digestible chromosomal DNA from a variety of polysaccharide-enriched sources. In the presence of CTAB, DNA can be isolated and extracted from Condylactis gigantea and is suitable for digestion with restriction endonucleases. With a minor modification, RNA can also be extracted and used to obtain mRNA. The technique is useful for Cnidarian tissues and may be appropriate for a variety of other marine invertebrates and algae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 90089-2520.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dellacorte
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009093:Mucus / Q000737:chemistry*; D012313:RNA / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012615:Sea Anemones / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA