Project description:Accurate and reliable analysis of gene expression depends on the extraction of pure and high-quality RNA. However, while the conventional phenol-chloroform RNA extraction is preferable over silica-based columns, particularly when cost is a concern or higher RNA yield is desired, it can result in significant RNA contamination. Contaminants including excess phenol, chloroform, or salts, can have significant impacts on downstream applications, including RNA quantification and reverse transcription, that can skew data collection and interpretation. To overcome the issue of RNA contamination in the conventional phenol-chloroform based RNA extraction method, we have optimized the protocol by adding one chloroform extraction step, and several RNA washing steps. Importantly, RNA quality and purity and accuracy in the quantification of RNA concentration were significantly improved with the modified protocol, resulting in reliable data collection and interpretation in downstream gene expression analysis. •Our protocol is customized by the addition of a second chloroform extraction step. Chloroform is carefully pipetted so as to not disturb the interphase layer. Any contaminants accidentally removed from interphase will be present in subsequent steps and can result in RNA contaminated with protein or phenol. The additional chloroform step increases RNA purity.•Additionally, the addition of 2 additional ethanol washes, initially intended to remove any residual salts from the isopropanol RNA precipitation step, also removed residual phenol contamination, enhancing RNA purity.•In summary, these modifications serve to enhance not only the purity of the RNA but, also increase the accuracy and reliability of RNA quantification.
Project description:Current research targeting filtered macrobial environmental DNA (eDNA) often relies upon cold ambient temperatures at various stages, including the transport of water samples from the field to the laboratory and the storage of water and/or filtered samples in the laboratory. This poses practical limitations for field collections in locations where refrigeration and frozen storage is difficult or where samples must be transported long distances for further processing and screening. This study demonstrates the successful preservation of eDNA at room temperature (20 °C) in two lysis buffers, CTAB and Longmire's, over a 2-week period of time. Moreover, the preserved eDNA samples were seamlessly integrated into a phenol-chloroform-isoamyl alcohol (PCI) DNA extraction protocol. The successful application of the eDNA extraction to multiple filter membrane types suggests the methods evaluated here may be broadly applied in future eDNA research. Our results also suggest that for many kinds of studies recently reported on macrobial eDNA, detection probabilities could have been increased, and at a lower cost, by utilizing the Longmire's preservation buffer with a PCI DNA extraction.
Project description:The presence of abundant storage proteins in plant embryos greatly impedes seed proteomics analysis. Vicilin (or globulin-1) is the most abundant storage protein in maize embryo. There is a need to deplete the vicilins from maize embryo extracts for enhanced proteomics analysis. We here reported a chloroform-assisted phenol extraction (CAPE) method for vicilin depletion. By CAPE, maize embryo proteins were first extracted in an aqueous buffer, denatured by chloroform and then subjected to phenol extraction. We found that CAPE can effectively deplete the vicilins from maize embryo extract, allowing the detection of low-abundance proteins that were masked by vicilins in 2-DE gel. The novelty of CAPE is that it selectively depletes abundant storage proteins from embryo extracts of both monocot (maize) and dicot (soybean and pea) seeds, whereas other embryo proteins were not depleted. CAPE can significantly improve proteome profiling of embryos and extends the application of chloroform and phenol extraction in plant proteomics. In addition, the rationale behind CAPE depletion of abundant storage proteins was explored.
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown created problems with importing of commercial kits resulting in extended turnaround times for consumable deliveries. One way to circumvent this was to use an inexpensive optimized in-house method for DNA extraction from water. • The DNA extraction methods were optimized on a 96-well plate using a semi-automated filtration system to increase the number of samples from 24 to 96 at a time in 2 h. The DNA extraction method optimizations included: (a) Guanidium thiocyanate method plus dilution series of celite to determine DNA binding capacity; (b) QIamp 96 Qiacube HT kit (Qiagen®); (c) Guanidium thiocyanate with the celite replaced with a binding buffer. • The in-house DNA extraction methods and adapted in-house DNA extraction method were compared to QIamp 96 Qiacube HT kit (Qiagen®), which is used on a 96-well semi-automated filtration system. The results showed maximum capacity of the 96-well filter plates was 400 μℓ broth (OD600 = 0.45 = 3.6 × 108 cells/mℓ) before the 96-well filters blocked. • When the methods were compared, there was no significant difference between the in-house DNA extraction method with 1:420 celite dilution (P-value = 0.126) and the adapted in-house method with binding buffer (P-value = 0.298) DNA yield or amplification of PCR products.
Project description:The primary concentration and molecular process are critical to implement wastewater-based epidemiology for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, the previously developed methods were optimized for nonenveloped viruses. Few studies evaluated if the methods are applicable to the efficient recovery of enveloped viruses from various types of raw sewage. This study aims (1) to compare the whole process recovery of Pseudomonas phage φ6, a surrogate for enveloped viruses, among combinations of primary concentration [ultrafiltration (UF), electronegative membrane vortex (EMV), and polyethylene glycol precipitation (PEG)] and RNA extraction methods (spin column-based method using QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit and acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction using TRIzol reagent) for three types of raw sewage and (2) to test the applicability of the method providing the highest φ6 recovery to the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Among the tested combinations, PEG+TRIzol provided the highest φ6 recovery ratio of 29.8% to 49.8% (geometric mean). UF + QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit provided the second highest φ6 recovery of 6.4% to 35.8%. The comparable φ6 recovery was observed for UF + TRIzol (13.8-30.0%). PEG + QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit provided only 1.4% to 3.0% of φ6 recovery, while coliphage MS2, a surrogate for nonenveloped viruses, was recovered comparably with PEG + TRIzol. This indicated that the nonenveloped surrogate (MS2) did not necessarily validate the efficient recovery for enveloped viruses. EMV + QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit provided significantly different φ6 recovery (1.6-21%) among the types of raw sewage. Then, the applicability of modified PEG + TRIzol was examined for the raw sewage collected in Tokyo, Japan. Of the 12 grab samples, 4 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 CDC N1 and N3 assay. Consequently, PEG + TRIzol provided the highest φ6 recovery and allowed for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from raw sewage.
Project description:Urine is an acceptable, non-invasive sample for investigating the human urogenital microbiota and for the diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections. However, low quantities of bacterial DNA and PCR inhibitors in urine may prevent efficient PCR amplification for molecular detection of bacteria. Furthermore, cold temperatures used to preserve DNA and bacteria in urine can promote precipitation of crystals that interfere with DNA extraction. Saline, Dulbecco's Phosphate Buffered Saline, or Tris-EDTA buffer were added to urine from adult men to determine if crystal precipitation could be reversed without heating samples beyond ambient temperature. Total bacterial DNA concentrations and PCR inhibition were measured using quantitative PCR assays to compare DNA yields with and without buffer addition. Dissolution of crystals with Tris-EDTA prior to urine centrifugation was most effective in increasing bacterial DNA recovery and reducing PCR inhibition. DNA recovery using Tris-EDTA was further tested by spiking urine with DNA from bacterial isolates and median concentrations of Lactobacillus jensenii and Escherichia coli 16S rRNA gene copies were found to be higher in urine processed with Tris-EDTA. Maximizing bacterial DNA yield from urine may facilitate more accurate assessment of bacterial populations and increase detection of specific bacteria in the genital tract.
Project description:Mangroves and salt marsh species are known to synthesize a wide spectrum of polysaccharides and polyphenols including flavonoids and other secondary metabolites which interfere with the extraction of pure genomic DNA. Although a plethora of plant DNA isolation protocols exist, extracting DNA from mangroves and salt marsh species is a challenging task. This study describes a rapid and reliable cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) protocol suited specifically for extracting DNA from plants which are rich in polysaccharides and secondary metabolites, and the protocol also excludes the use of expensive liquid nitrogen and toxic phenols. Purity of extracted DNA was excellent as evident by A260/A280 ratio ranging from 1.78 to 1.84 and A260/A230 ratio was >2, which also suggested that the preparations were sufficiently free of proteins and polyphenolics/polysaccharide compounds. DNA concentration ranged from 8.8 to 9.9 μg μL(-1). The extracted DNA was amenable to RAPD, restriction digestion, and PCR amplification of plant barcode genes (matK and rbcl). The optimized method is suitable for both dry and fresh leaves. The success of this method in obtaining high-quality genomic DNA demonstrated the broad applicability of this method.
Project description:Typical DNA extraction protocols from commercially available kits provide an adequate amount of DNA from a single individual mosquito sufficient for PCR-based assays. However, next-generation sequencing applications and high-throughput SNP genotyping assays exposed the limitation of DNA quantity one usually gets from a single individual mosquito. Whole genome amplification could alleviate the issue but it also creates bias in genome representation. While trying to find alternative DNA extraction protocols for improved DNA yield, we found that a combination of the tissue lysis protocol from Life Technologies and the DNA extraction protocol from Qiagen yielded a higher DNA amount than the protocol using the Qiagen or Life Technologies kit only. We have not rigorously tested all the possible combinations of extraction protocols; we also only tested this on mosquito samples. Therefore, our finding should be noted as a suggestion for improving people's own DNA extraction protocols and not as an advertisement of a commercially available product.
Project description:PTex is a protocol to purify UV-cross-linked ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) in an unbiased and sequence-independent fashion. Total RNA from HEK293 cells was analysed by RNASeq from whole cell lysates as well as after purification of RNPs.
Project description:We report herein the purification of a chloroform (CF)-reducing enzyme, TmrA, from the membrane fraction of a strict anaerobe Dehalobacter sp. strain UNSWDHB to apparent homogeneity with an approximate 23-fold increase in relative purity compared to crude lysate. The membrane fraction obtained by ultracentrifugation was solubilized in Triton X-100 in the presence of glycerol, followed by purification by anion exchange chromatography. The molecular mass of the purified TmrA was determined to be 44.5 kDa by SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF/TOF. The purified dehalogenase reductively dechlorinated CF to dichloromethane in vitro with reduced methyl viologen as the electron donor at a specific activity of (1.27 ± 0.04) × 103 units mg protein-1 . The optimum temperature and pH for the activity were 45°C and 7.2, respectively. The UV-visible spectrometric analysis indicated the presence of a corrinoid and two [4Fe-4S] clusters, predicted from the amino acid sequence. This is the first report of the production, purification and biochemical characterization of a CF reductive dehalogenase.