Abstract:Gene resources of Oryza rufipogon Griff. play a crucial role in rice breeding, and hence to study their conservation is of utter importance. The authors describe a method for preparation of DNA from mini- amotmt of the silica-gel-dried leaves of Oryza rufipogon. The high molecular weight DNAs of 1 168 individuals representing 44 populations have been obtained with high yields, which could be used for RAPD PCR and construction of total DNA bank of this species. The template DNA from silica-gel-dried leaves stored for one year at room temperature gave the same RAPD results as that from the newly prepared silica-gel-dried leaves. The optional template DNA concentrations for amplification ranged from 3.1 ng to 50 ng. In addition, the quality and quantity of the template DNAs that affect RAPD results are also discussed.