Introduction
Plant materials are among the most difficult for high quality DNA extractions. The
key is to properly prepare the tissues for extraction. In most cases this involves the use of
liquid nitrogen flash freezing followed by grinding the frozen tissue with a mortar and
pestle. Liquid nitrogen is difficult to handle and it is dangerous in an open laboratory
environment such as a classroom. For this reason we have modified a very simple plant
DNA extraction protocol to use fresh tissue. We have also used tissue prepared in
advance by dessication. The protocols and results are presented here.