Plant seeds vary dramatically in size and composition. Genetic testing is becoming increasingly important as seed companies develop value-added products that require segregation and high purity standards. Seed lots must be screened for varietal purity, hybridity and in some cases for the presence of transgenes. The time required to germinate seeds and grow seedlings to produce leaf tissue for DNA extraction for genetic tests can often delay the sale or export of seed and experiments. High-throughputDNA extraction from seeds can significantly increase the efficiency of screening large mapping or mutation populations. Although routine protocols are available for leaves, high-throughput DNA extraction from seeds can be problematic. In this research, we tested three grinding methods and ten high-throughput DNA extraction protocols for their efficiency in yielding high-quality DNA from the seed of 11 vegetable species. Three commercially available kits were able to extract amplifiable DNA from seeds, but only one kit yielded high-quality DNA from all species tested.
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