Isolation of plant nuclei suitable for flow cytometry from recalcitrant tissue by use of a filtration column

Flow cytometry is widely applied in the determination of nuclear DNA content and ploidy level in many organisms. However, a difficulty with flow cytometry is the method's intrinsic inability to tolerate large particles that associate with the isolated nuclei. A suspension of plant nuclei can often contain a high level of crystalline calcium oxalate, which blocks the fluidics system of the flow cytometer. We designed a cotton column and added polyvinylpyrrolidone-40 to the buffer to remove phenolic impurities and cytoplasmic compounds from plant nuclei, making the suspension suitable for flow cytometry. This simple and highly efficient protocol enables isolation of intact nuclei from plant tissues containing high levels of polysaccharides, calcium oxalate crystals and other metabolites. Our protocol resulted in the isolation of intact nuclei from mature orchid leaves. This method can be used on recalcitrant tissues and is particularly effective on plants containing calcium oxalate crystals.