Seventeen Years Storage of Juniper and Spinach Leaves in Alcohols: Effects on Dna

Propanol appeared better than ethanol for the long-term storage of spinach leaves, followed by hexanol and pentanol. The lowest molecular weight and yields of DNA came from spinach stored in methanol and ethanol. In an experiment with spinach leaves stored in 100, 95, 70, 50 and 25% ethanol, the 50% ethanol stored leaves appeared to yield more and higher molecular weight DNA than any other treatment. In contrast, juniper leaves stored in 100 and 95% ethanol yielded more and higher molecular weight DNA than 70, 50 or 25% ethanol. The different manner that these two very differnet leaves respond to storage in ethanol solutions may reflect the herbaceous nature of spinach leaves versus the woody nature of juniper leaves, as well as differences in secondary compounds. Phytologia 93(3): 283292 (December 1, 2010).