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.

Protocol: Plant DNA Extraction Protocol