An efficient and cost effective method of RNA extraction from mucilage, phenol and secondary metabolite rich bark tissue of tossa jute (C. olitorius L.) actively developing phloem fiber.

Tossa jute is an important natural fiber crop of Southeast Asian countries including India, Bangladesh, China, Thailand, Myanmar etc. Traditional industrial application of jute fiber is limited to the packaging products like hessians, sacks, etc. and the fiber found unsuitable for textile industries largely due to significantly high lignin content. Therefore, understanding genetic factors underlying lignin biosynthesis in tossa jute holds promise for jute based product diversification. The major limiting factor in undertaking such study is unavailability of efficient protocol for RNA extraction at secondary growth active stage of tossa jute. Here we report a simplified, swift and cost effective protocol for isolating fairly good quality RNA from bark tissue of 65-days-old field grown tossa jute plant with active secondary growth. The purity, concentration and integrity of extracted RNA ascertained. To confirm downstream amenability, isolated RNA samples were reverse transcribed and PCR analysis done by using CCoAMT1 primer. Results established that method of RNA extraction presented here is an improvement over the other methods, particularly for bark tissue of field grown tossa jute at advance developmental stage. Therefore, present study will enhance our ability to understand expression pattern of fiber formation and maturation related genes in mature bark tissue that holds key for much talked genetic manipulation of fiber quality via lignin optimisation in the crop.