Micropreparation of single secretory glands from the carnivorous plant Nepenthes.

A rapid mechanical micropreparation technique has been developed to isolate multicellular glands, here from Nepenthes pitchers, based on a microdissection platform. The method is an alternative to laser capture dissection because fresh plant tissue can be used directly without previous fixation. Subsequent experiments, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based detection of an individual gene encoding a thaumatin-like protein and RNA extraction for gene expression analysis, have been successfully added to prove the quality of the prepared biological material. The procedure described is adaptable to a broad range of plant species and should find wide application in the preparation of multicellular glands or other tissues.