Nucleic Acid Determination in Storage Tissues of Higher Plants

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Abstract
Two methods were compared for the extraction and determination of nucleic acids in storage tissues of peanut, corn and castor bean seedlings. As judged by ultraviolet absorption spectra and quantitative extraction of the nucleic acids, a slight modification of the method of Smillie and Krothov proved to be satisfactory. This method involves homogenization and extraction of the tissue in methanol which extracts most of the nucleotides and interfering materials. This study points up the fact that methods for analysis of nucleic acids must be tailored to the tissue. For storage tissues which have a low nucleic acid content and a high content of storage materials (lipids, carbohydrates, or proteins), a more refined technique is required.