AQUASERV PID 38757: RNA extraction from various tissues of the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis for PCR and quantitative PCR and for differentiating between sexes of the mussel and different times of the reproductive cycle.

RNA extraction from various tissues of male and female mussels.Adult <i>Mytilus galloprovincialis </i>were commercially obtained from fisher along the Algarve coast. The animals were dissected and crudely sexed according to the macro appearance of the gonads. This was later confirmed from the micro appearance (histology of the gonads). Tissues from each animal was dissected, labeled and stored separately at -80 deg C. Tissues included gonads and somatic tissues such as gills, foot muscle, neural tissues and digestive.Total RNA was extracted in a routine manner with a kit; quality was assessed with a Nanodrop, and treated with DNase to remove any DNA before cDNA was synthesised for PCR and further downstream experiments.