Background: Plant tissues must be preserved in their collection state, especially for genome-wide expression
profile studies. Lyophilization is a feasible, affordable tool when fresh tissues cannot be shipped at ultralow
temperatures from their origin to the place of analysis. In this study, the total RNA quality of dormant
grapevine buds (
Vitis vinifera
L. cv. ‘Flame Seedless’) of freeze-dried samples stored at room temperature
conditions was evaluated and compared to that of cryopreserved (-80°C) grapevine buds.
Results: Good yield and quality of RNA were obtained from freeze-dried dormant buds stored at room
temperature for 0, 3 and 6 weeks after they were lyophilized. Further experiments confirmed that the
extracted total RNA could be used for actin and β-tubulin PCR gene amplification.
Conclusion: High-quality RNA that is useful for downstream applications was obtained from freeze-dried
dormant grapevine bud tissue, similarly to the RNA obtained from cryopreserved dormant grapevine buds.
