ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Practical and cost-effective method for the isolation of pollen grains from various sources
1
North Carolina State University, Department of Population Health and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary
Medicine, 1060 William Moore Drive, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA
2
United States Geological Survey, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr,
Reston VA 20192, USA
Submission date: 2024-07-30
Acceptance date: 2025-04-30
Online publication date: 2025-06-27
HIGHLIGHTS
- Practical, cost-effective method for isolating pollen grains for mock standards
- Vacuum filtration effectively removes debris without lysing pollen grains
- Beneficial for palynology, forensic science, and environmental monitoring
- Method is tested using 25 species - herbarium, commercial, and fresh source materials
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Mock standards, with known concentrations and varied characteristics, when analyzed alongside
unknown samples, can provide evaluation, optimization, and validation of scientific methods. Due to the scarcity
of commercially available pollen grains, this study introduces a practical and cost-effective method for isolating
pollen grains from various sources to be used in a mock pollen standard. Our method was tested using 25 diverse
species derived from different sources, including herbarium materials (n, 20; dated from 1941 to 2006), commercially
sourced (n, 2), and fresh hand-collected (n, 3), representing a wide range of taxonomic diversity and pollen
morphology. Isolation with vacuum filtration, which can be completed in a basic laboratory, easily removes inorganic
and organic debris while avoiding lysis of the pollen grains. This paper details the key steps in this method,
including a) collecting suitable plant materials containing pollen grains from fresh and herbarium specimens and
b) isolating, quantifying and storing the pollen grains. This approach is particularly beneficial for researchers in
palynology, plant biology, forensic science and environmental monitoring, offering a practical way to isolate pollen
grains for inclusion as a mock standard while preserving both morphological features and genetic material.
FUNDING
This research was sponsored by the
Army Research Office and was accomplished under
Cooperative Agreement Number W911NF-21-2-0129
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| eISSN: | 2082-0259 |
| ISSN: | 0001-6594 |
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