Simple and efficient isolation of plant genomic DNA using magnetic ionic liquids

BACKGROUND: Plant DNA isolation and purification is a time-consuming and laborious process relative to epithelial and viral DNA sample preparation due to the cell wall. The lysis of plant cells to free intracellular DNA normally requires high temperatures, chemical surfactants, and mechanical separation of plant tissue prior to a DNA purification step. Traditional DNA purification methods also do not aid themselves towards fieldwork due to the numerous chemical and bulky equipment requirements. RESULTS: In this study, intact plant tissue was coated by hydrophobic magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) and ionic liquids (ILs) and allowed to incubate under static conditions or dispersed in a suspension buffer to facilitate cell disruption and DNA extraction. The DNA-enriched MIL or IL was successfully integrated into the qPCR buffer without inhibiting the reaction. The two aforementioned advantages of ILs and MILs allow plant DNA sample preparation to occur in one minute or less without the aid of elevated temperatures or chemical surfactants that typically inhibit enzymatic amplification methods. MIL or IL-coated plant tissue could be successfully integrated into a qPCR assay without the need for custom enzymes or manual DNA isolation/purification steps that are required for conventional methods. CONCLUSIONS: The limited amount of equipment, chemicals, and time required to disrupt plant cells while simultaneously extracting DNA using MILs makes the described procedure ideal for fieldwork and lab work in low resource environments. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13007-022-00860-8

Calea repanda (Asteraceae: Neurolaeneae), a new species and novel characters for the taxonomy of the genus.

We describe a new species, Calea repanda, from Brazil and discuss novel morphological characters for the taxonomy of this genus. This new species is morphologically similar to C. gentianoides and C. diamantinensis but is distinct due to repand (vs. entire) leaf margins, radiate (vs. discoid) capitulum, larger involucre 12.2?12.7 × 10.6?12 mm (vs. 5.5?9.4 × 2.7?5.2 mm), disc florets 30?40 (vs. 3?9), and fewer pappus scales 7?10 (vs. 15?20). Calea repanda is endemic to the Diamantina plateau in Minas Gerais state, Southeastern Brazil. We provide a map with the geographic occurrence of this species, an illustration with diagnostic characters, and the first taxonomic key for species of C. sect. Calea from Brazil. Furthermore, we propose a more detailed terminology to describe the proportion of the number of paleae and disc florets in the capitulum receptacle

A synopsis of the Afro-Malagasy species previously included in Schefflera (Araliaceae): resurrection of the genera Astropanax and Neocussonia.

International audienc

Data Release: DNA Barcodes of Plant Species Collected for the Global Genome Initiative for Gardens (GGI-Gardens) II

The Global Genome Initiative for Gardens (GGI-Gardens) is an international partnership of botanic gardens and arboreta that aims to preserve and understand the genomic diversity of plants on Earth. GGI-Gardens has organized a collection program focused on the living collections that partner institutions and supports the preservation of herbarium and genomic vouchers. Collections made through GGI-Gardens are deposited in recognized herbaria and Global Genome Biodiversity Network-partnered biorepositories worldwide, meaning that they are made available to the public. With support from its parent organization, the Global Genome Initiative (GGI), plant DNA barcode sequencing is performed using tissues collected through this partnership that represent taxa without barcode sequences in GenBank. This is the second data release published by GGI-Gardens and constitutes 2722 barcode sequences from 174 families and 702 genera of land plants. All DNA barcodes generated in this study are now available through the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) and GenBank