DNA banking for the conservation of genetic resources of crop and wild medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs): preliminary study

Abstract

Introduction: In order to prevent the loss of plant genetic diversity, in situ and ex situ conservation is undertaken, including medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) with rare and endangered wild species and cultivated herbs vulnerable to genetic erosion. One of methods of ex situ conservation of gene resources is DNA banking. Objective: The purpose of this work was to extract, evaluate, and bank the DNA of some crop and wild MAPs. Methods: In our research, 16 species/cultivars of important MAPs cultivated in Poland and 12 Arnica montana populations from ex situ collection, were selected. The DNA preparations obtained from young leaves or/and seedlings were subjected to spectrophotometric analyses. Results: Depending on the taxa and plant material used, the average DNA content of the samples ranged widely, from 12.83 to 909.47 ng/µl. Some DNA preparations showed the 260/280 nm absorption ratio values slightly different from the optimum (1.8–2.0), which may indicate small RNA or protein contamination. In turn, the level of 260/230 ratio exhibited sample contamination by carbohydrates, proteins, or polyphenols in some cases. Conclusions: The method of automatic isolation of nucleic acid using magnetic beads made it possible to quickly obtain DNA preparations from different species, cultivars, and plant material (95% of samples analysed). Most of the samples contained adequate DNA concentrations of sufficient quality for further analyses without additional purification.