RNA Purification from the Unicellular Green Alga, Chromochloris zofingiensis

Sean D Gallaher; Melissa S Roth

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.2793

RNA Purification from the Unicellular Green Alga, Chromochloris zofingiensis

Bio Protoc. 2018 Apr 5;8(7):e2792. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2793.

Authors

Sean D Gallaher¹, Melissa S Roth²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
² Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.

Abstract

Chromochloris zofingiensis is a unicellular green alga that is an emerging model species for studies in fields such as biofuel production, ketocarotenoid biosynthesis and metabolism. The recent availability of a high-quality genome assembly facilitates systems-level analysis, such as RNA-Seq. However, cells of this alga have a tough cell wall, which is a challenge for RNA purification. This protocol was designed specifically to breach the cell wall and isolate high-quality RNA suitable for RNA-Seq studies.

Keywords: Algae; Cell wall; Chromochloris zofingiensis; RNA purification; RNA-Seq.