Plant rRNAs

[Andy Phillips]

Markus Piotrowski wrote:
> 
> Dear netters,
> 
> I'm actually doing total RNA-isolation from green plant tissue (Nicotiana
>  tabacum). When running the RNA on a gel I find at least five distinct
> bands. I know that some of them are 28S and 18S rRNA and some of them
> should derived from plastids and mitochondrial rRNA. Is there anyone out
> who can tell me:
> 
> a. Which band is which rRNA (from the top to the bottom of the
> formaldehyd agarose gel)?
> b. What is the exact (+/-) size of these rRNAs?
> 
> Thank you very much in advance
> 
> Markus

The main bands that you see are the cytoplasmic 25S and 18S rRNAs, and the 
chloroplast 23S and 16S rRNAs. The fragment sizes I have written down in 
an old lab notebook are:  3580, 1926, 2890,and 1490 bases respectively - 
these may be inaccurate. The larger of the two chloroplastic rRNAs is often 
cleaved and runs as smaller fragments, below the 16S.

Yuletide greetings,

Andy

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