Establishment of Simple and Efficient Methods for Plant Material Harvesting and Storage to Allow DNA Extraction from a Myrtaceae Species with Medicinal Potential

Abstract

Genomic DNA isolation is an essential procedure to allow many genetic applications and analyses like that using molecular markers. Obtaining good quality DNA samples is the first step to succeed in such analysis and it depends on effective procedures for harvesting and preserving the plant material, and also for DNA extraction. The use of fresh material is ideal for DNA isolation, however, in studies that involve the harvesting of wild plants this is not always possible, since in most cases, populations are distant from the research laboratory. An alternative is freezing the plant material in liquid nitrogen in the field, but this practice is not feasible in many cases, given the difficulty and danger of transporting the liquid nitrogen tank on places of difficult access. In this study, we present four simple, efficient and low cost methodologies that have been successfully tested for a Myrtaceae species with medicinal potential collected at different biomes, Atlantic Rainforest and Brazilian Savanna (Cerrado). Among the main advantages observed are the reduced use of liquid nitrogen, the use of inexpensive materials and ease of transport and storage of samples. The methods presented here can potentially be applied to other species of this botanical family.