Efficient protocol for isolation of high-quality RNA from tea without using liquid nitrogen for molecular analysis

A good quality RNA is an important prerequisite for any downstream molecular analysis. However, isolation of quality RNA from tea is difficult due to presence of high amount of phenols and polysaccharides. We describe here an efficient protocol for total RNA isolation without liquid nitrogen from apical buds and tender leaves of tea. This protocol yielded RNA 1248+/-23 mu g/g of fresh leaf tissue with high purity. The RNA was also found to be suitable for mRNA purification, cDNA synthesis and cloning through RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) and cDNA library construction.