In most natural habitats, Arabidopsis is a winter annual: Its seeds germinate in the fall, the young plants survive the winter, floral meristems emerge in the spring, and only the seeds survive the summer months. Most common laboratory varieties of Arabidopsis flower within 4 weeks of germination, and seeds can be collected after an additional 4-6 weeks. - [Read Cultivation of Arabidopsis Protocol]
This protocol describes a method for quantitative measurement of DNA using propidium iodide (PI) staining and flow cytometry. PI stains all double-stranded regions of both DNA and RNA by intercalating between the stacked bases of the double helix. PI cannot penetrate an intact cell membrane; therefore, cells are fixed prior to staining. The ethanol-fixed cells can be stored unstained at 4°C for days, or even weeks, and then stained and analyzed. - [Read Measurement of DNA Content Using Propidium Iodide (PI) Staining of Fixed Whole Cells Protocol]
A. thaliana has a very small haploid genome and this makes obtaining DNA somewhat difficult. The most notable problem is that DNA is usually contaminated with polysaccharide which inhibit restriction enzymes as well as other DNA modifying enzymes. This problem is most easily solved by using young plants which have not accumulated as much polysaccharide as older plants. The best results are obtained with plants that are two to three weeks post germinated. - [Read Plant DNA Extraction Protocol]