Abstract
We have developed a rapid extraction method using low salt concentration buffer for the isolation of low-molecular-weight RNA from Arabidopsis tissues. The method was quick and efficient, and the small scale extraction process took no more than 1 hour, while yield and RNA quality were comparable with those of previously reported. The LMW RNA isolated using this method was high quality, abundant in small RNA and free of high molecular weight RNA. This method can be used to extract low-molecular-weight RNA for the purpose of small RNA cloning and detection, and library construction.