Rapid Preparation of Genomic DNA from Monosiga brevicollis and Other Choanoflagellates
- 1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
- 2Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
- 3Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada
- 4Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5YW, United Kingdom
- 5School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom
- ↵6Corresponding author (b.s.c.leadbeater{at}bham.ac.uk)
INTRODUCTION
Choanoflagellates are heterotrophic nanoflagellates: small, colorless protozoa that are present in marine and freshwater environments as well as in hydrated soils. Because they are the closest living relatives of the metazoa, the study of their cell biology and genomes promises to provide new insights into metazoan ancestry and origins. This protocol describes a straightforward but crude isolation strategy for genomic DNA that has been effective on all tested choanoflagellate species. The resulting genomic DNA provides a suitable template for a variety of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques, but is too impure for procedures that require very high-quality DNA such as Southern blotting.
