Effect of soil clay content on RNA isolation and on detection and quantification of bacterial gene transcripts in soil by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR.

In this study, we evaluated the effect of soil clay content on RNA isolation and on quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) quantification of microbial gene transcripts. The amount of clay significantly altered RNA isolation yields and qRT-PCR analyses. Recommendations are made for quantifying microbial gene transcripts in soil samples varying in clay content.