title: Extraction of high-quality, melanin-free RNA From Mycosphaerella fijiensis for cDNA preparation.
abstract: High-quality RNA preparations are critical for further applications such as reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) transcript amplifications, and elaboration of cDNA and expressed sequence tag libraries. Melanins are phenolic compounds present in many fungi and apparently play key roles in fungi pathogenesis and survival. However, during RNA extraction these compounds constitute a significant challenge to extraction of substantial quantities of high-quality RNA, and consequently to preparation of cDNA libraries. No method currently exists for RNA extraction from Mycosphaerella fijiensis that produces high quantities of melanin-free RNA. This fungus is the most important pathogen of cultivated Musa sp. varieties. A comparison is made between results obtained from the Trizol and RNeasy protocols for RNA extraction, two commercially available methods commonly used to obtain RNA from various sources. An improved methodology is described that allows isolation of intact RNA and elimination of melanins from M. fijiensis mycelium. RNA quality is evaluated by electrophoresis in formaldehyde-agarose gels, RT into cDNAs, and subsequent PCR amplification using primers designed against actin and beta- tubulin from fungi.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Calle 43 No. 130 Chuburná de Hidalgo, Mérida, Yucatán, 97200, México.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Islas-Flores
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peraza-Echeverría
authors.forename: Blondy
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Canto-Canché
authors.forename: Cecilia Mónica
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-García
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D005591:Chemical Fractionation / Q000379:methods*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics*; D008543:Melanins / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008543:Melanins; D012331:RNA, Fungal