CTAB Extraction Buffer Kit

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is a cationic surfactant, commonly used in the preparation and purification of genomic DNA from different samples, particularly plants. Extracting DNA from plant tissues can be very challenging, primarily due to the presence of a rigid cell wall surrounding the plant cells. Polysaccharides and polyphenols are two classes of plant biomolecules that vary widely between plant species and are very problematic when extracting DNA. Also, the presence of polysaccharides and polyphenols in a DNA preparation can inhibit the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and other downstream applications.

Our CTAB Extraction Buffer Kit effectively removes polysaccharides and polyphenols with the use of Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), a polyphenol binding agent supplied with the kit for preparing high quality genomic DNA from plant samples. CTAB protocols typically require the homogenization of plant samples in CTAB Extraction Buffer prior to centrifugation to pellet the debris and polysaccharides. Since the DNA extract obtained with this method contains both DNA and RNA, RNA can be easily removed by the addition of RNase A. The DNA is precipitated and washed in organic solvents before re-dissolving in aqueous solution. Our CTAB Extraction Buffer contains 2 % CTAB, 20 mM EDTA·Na₂·2H₂O, 1.4 M NaCl and 100 mM Tris, pH 8 and is of molecular biology grade and quality-control tested for sterility.