Total RNA quality of lyophilized and cryopreserved dormant grapevine buds

Background: Plant tissues must be preserved in their collection state, especially for genome-wide expression profile studies. Lyophilization is a feasible, affordable tool when fresh tissues cannot be shipped at ultralow temperatures from their origin to the place of analysis. In this study, the total RNA quality of dormant grapevine buds ( Vitis vinifera L. cv. \u2018Flame Seedless\u2019) of freeze-dried samples stored at room temperature conditions was evaluated and compared to that of cryopreserved (-80\ub0C) grapevine buds. Results: Good yield and quality of RNA were obtained from freeze-dried dormant buds stored at room temperature for 0, 3 and 6 weeks after they were lyophilized. Further experiments confirmed that the extracted total RNA could be used for actin and \u3b2-tubulin PCR gene amplification. Conclusion: High-quality RNA that is useful for downstream applications was obtained from freeze-dried dormant grapevine bud tissue, similarly to the RNA obtained from cryopreserved dormant grapevine buds