Comparison of RNA extraction methods in Thai aromatic coconut water

Abstract

Many researches have reported that nucleic acid in coconut water is in free form and at very low yields which makes it difficult to process in molecular studies. Our research attempted to compare two extraction methods to obtain a higher yield of total RNA in aromatic coconut water and monitor its change at various fruit stages. The first method used ethanol and sodium acetate as reagents; the second method used lithium chloride. We found that extraction using only lithium chloride gave a higher total RNA yield than the method using ethanol to precipitate nucleic acid. In addition, the total RNA from both methods could be used in amplification of betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase2 (Badh2) genes, which is involved in coconut aroma biosynthesis, and could be used to perform further study as we expected. From the molecular study, the nucleic acid found in coconut water increased with fruit age.

Keywords

• nucleic acid
• lithium chloride
• ethanol
• betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase2
• liquid endosperm