An Efficient Method for High Quality RNA Extraction from Moringa oleifera

Moringa oleifera, the Miracle Tree is rich in all nutrients and minerals. It has prominent distribution of secondary metabolites like polysaccharides, phenols and mucilage, which makes extraction of RNA quite difficult. A high quality and pure RNA is prerequisite for the study of high through put transcriptomics and functional genomics. A protocol for isolation of highly qualitative and quantitative RNA from M. oleifera was optimized by comparing five different methods like Trizol, Guanidine hydrochloride, combined Trizol and Guanidine hydrochloride, modified CTAB and hot phenol method. The combined Guanidine hydrochloride and Trizol method gave good yield and pure RNA based on the absorbance A260 value 2.0. The model plant Nicotiana tabacum served as a positive control in which the Trizol method yielded a good quality and quantity RNA. The present study is a preliminary step for studying the function and expression pattern of the genes. This is the first report on the comparison of different RNA extraction methods in M. oleifera to our knowledge.