Total RNA Extraction for the Red Seaweed Gracilaria changii (Gracilariales, Rhodophyta)

Five different RNA extraction methods have been tried out on the red seaweed, Gracilaria changii collected from the mangrove area at Morib, Selangor, Malaysia. Two methods, one utilising guanidinium thiocyanate, and another using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), were found to be potential alternatives to obtain pure RNA. By incorporating sand while grinding the tissue, the method using CTAB was found most suitable to obtain pure RNA (high A260:280nm ratio) with high yield (0.16ug RNA per gram of fresh tissue)