ISOLATION OF DNA FROM EUKARYOTIC ALGAE

This chapter presents several protocols for the extraction and isolation of algal nucleic acids. The algae are critical to the maintenance of a balanced global ecosystem. These plants are the anchor of the oceanic food chain, fix half of the carbon that is processed on earth, and form both symbiotic and commensal associations with other biota. The methodologies used for algal DNA extraction differ depending on the morphology and biochemistry of the source organism. Complex cell wall architecture, scale ornamentation, pellicles, a spectrum of storage materials that range from lipids to mucopolysaccharides, as well as varying architectures of the nucleus, chloroplast, and mitochondria among algal taxa, serves to challenge the investigator. The complexity in morphological form and internal cellular organization among algal representatives requires that separate protocols, unique from those methodologies devised for terrestrial plant nucleic acid isolation, be used. © 1993, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.