Inhibiting protein synthesis

[Kathy Wilhelm]

> I was wondering why most plant DNA extraction protocols exclude the use of
> phenol - ie so far, most of the methods I've used jump right into choloroform-
> isoamyl alcohol extraction after the leaf tissue is ground in CTAB buffer. Is
> phenol too harsh a reagent that it could lower the yield of hi-mwt DNA?
>  
> I am a little worried about the possibility of DNAse activity going unchecked
> when I use a regular, phenol-free extraction protocol for Arabidopsis leaf
> tissue. Using phenol might save me the grief. What do you think?
>  
> Mike Santos
> Crop and Soil Sci
> University of Georgia
> 
While I can't address the reason for phenol's omission from the protocol, 
I can say that I have successfully used the DNA extraction protocol from the 
Plant Molecular Biology Manual, which doesn't use phenol, for Arabidopsis
& the bands on my Southerns are quite crisp.  
I hope this helps relieve your concern, if nothing else.
Kathy Wilhelm
grad stude