Minimizing DNA contamination by using UNG-coupled quantitative real-time PCR on degraded DNA samples: application to ancient DNA studies

PCR analyses of ancient and degraded DNA suffer from their extreme sensitivity to contamination by modern DNA originating, in particular, from carryover contamination with previously amplified or cloned material. Any strategy for limiting carryover contamination would also have to be compatible with the particular requirements of ancient DNA analyses. These include the need (i) to amplify short PCR products due to template fragmentation; (ii) to clone PCR products in order to track possible base misincorporation resulting from damaged templates; and (iii) to avoid incomplete decontamination causing artifactual sequence transformation. Here we show that the enzymatic decontamination procedures based upon dUTP- and uracil-N-glycosylase (UNG) can be adapted to meet the specific requirements of ancient DNA research. Thus, efficiency can be improved to vastly reduce the amplification of fragments < or = 100 bp. Secondly, the use of an Escherichia coli strain deficient in both UNG and dUTPase allows for the cloning of uracil-containing PCR products and offers protection from plasmid DNA contamination, and, lastly, PCR products amplified from UNG-degraded material are free of misleading sequence modifications.     

Control of carry-over contamination for PCR-based DNA methylation quantification using bisulfite treated DNA

In this study, we adapted the well known uracil DNA glycosylase (UNG) carry-over prevention system for PCR, and applied it to the analysis of DNA methylation based on sodium bisulfite conversion. As sodium bisulfite treatment converts unmethylated cytosine bases into uracil residues, bisulfite treated DNA is sensitive to UNG treatment. Therefore, UNG cannot be used for carry-over prevention of PCR using bisulfite treated template DNA, as not only contaminating products of previous PCR, but also the actual template will be degraded. We modified the bisulfite treatment procedure and generated DNA containing sulfonated uracil residues. Surprisingly, and in contrast to uracil, 6-sulfonyl uracil containing DNA (SafeBis DNA) is resistant to UNG. We showed that the new procedure removes up to 10 000 copies of contaminating PCR product in a closed PCR vessel without significant loss of analytical or clinical sensitivity of the DNA methylation analysis.     

False negative results from using common PCR reagents

Background

The sensitivity of the PCR reaction makes it ideal for use when identifying potentially novel viral infections in human disease. Unfortunately, this same sensitivity also leaves this popular technique open to potential contamination with previously amplified PCR products, or "carry-over" contamination. PCR product carry-over contamination can be prevented with uracil-DNA-glycosylase (UNG), and it is for this reason that it is commonly included in many commercial PCR master-mixes. While testing the sensitivity of PCR assays to detect murine DNA contamination in human tissue samples, we inadvertently discovered that the use of this common PCR reagent may lead to the production of false-negative PCR results.

Findings

We show here that contamination with minute quantities of UNG-digested PCR product or any negative control PCR reactions containing primer-dimers regardless of UNG presence can completely block amplification from as much as 60 ng of legitimate target DNA.

Conclusions

These findings could potentially explain discrepant results from laboratories attempting to amplify MLV-related viruses including XMRV from human samples, as none of the published reports used internal-tube controls for amplification. The potential for false negative results needs to be considered and carefully controlled in PCR experiments, especially when the target copy number may be low - just as the potential for false positive results already is.

     

Requirement for Uracil-DNA Glycosylase during the Transition to Late-Phase Cytomegalovirus DNA Replication

Cytomegalovirus gene UL114, a homolog of mammalian uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG), is required for efficient viral DNA replication. In quiescent fibroblasts, UNG mutant virus replication is delayed for 48 h and follows the virus-induced expression of cellular UNG. In contrast, mutant virus replication proceeds without delay in actively growing fibroblasts that express host cell UNG. In the absence of viral or host cell UNG expression, mutant virus fails to proceed to late-phase DNA replication, characterized by rapid DNA amplification. The data suggest that uracil incorporated early during wild-type viral DNA replication must be removed by virus or host UNG prior to late-phase amplification and encapsidation into progeny virions. The process of uracil incorporation and excision may introduce strand breaks to facilitate the transition from early-phase replication to late-phase amplification.     

一种实用可靠的古代 DNA 获取方法

古代DNA序列信息能够为物种演化研究提供最直接的分子证据,但获取古代DNA的技术仍存在诸多瓶颈,尤其是扩增中存在受损伤DNA模板的干扰、获取成本高和实验周期长等问题．改进了异丙醇沉淀提取法,并采用了尿嘧啶糖苷酶(UNG)去除受损伤DNA模板后进行扩增的方法,最终可以高效地获取真实的古代DNA序列．实验利用距今4 300～3 900年前的猪牙样本,将改进的古 DNA 获取方法与常规方法进行比较研究,结果表明,改进的异丙醇沉淀法提取结合UNG处理后进行PCR扩增的方法,可以在保证古代DNA获取成功率并提高获得的DNA序列可靠性的前提下,将经费投入和实验周期都各减少至常规方法的50%以下．这可以为开展大规模古代样本检测提供一种切实可行的 DNA 获取方法．     

An inexpensive and rapid diagnostic method of Koi Herpesvirus (KHV) infection by loop-mediated isothermal amplification

Although PCR and RT-PCR provided a valuable approach for detection of pathogens, the high level of sensitivity of these assays also makes them prone to false positive results. In addition to cross-contamination with true positive samples, false positive results are also possible due to "carry-over" contamination of samples with amplicon DNA generated by previous reactions. To reduce this source of false positives, amplicon generated by reactions in which dUTP was substituted for dTTP can be degraded by uracil DNA glycosylase (UNG). UNG does not degrade RNA but will cleave contaminating uracil-containing DNA while leaving thymine-containing DNA intact. The availability of heat-labile UNG makes use of this approach feasible for RT-PCR. In this study, real-time RT-PCR was used to quantify UNG degradation of amplicon DNA and the effect of UNG on RNA detection. Using the manufacturers' recommended conditions, complete degradation of DNA was not observed for samples containing 250 copies of amplicon DNA. Doubling the UNG concentration resulted in degradation of the two lowest concentrations of DNA tested, but also resulted in an increase of 1.94 cycles in the C_T for RNA detection. To improve DNA degradation while minimizing the effect on RNA detection, a series of time, temperature and enzyme concentrations were evaluated. Optimal conditions were found to be 0.25 U UNG per 25 μl reaction with a 20 min, 30°C incubation prior to RT-PCR. Under these conditions, high concentrations of amplicon DNA could be degraded while the C_T for RNA detection was increased by 1.2 cycles.     

The enhancement of PCR amplification of a random sequence DNA library by DMSO and betaine: application to in vitro combinatorial selection of aptamers

A PCR method for uniform amplification of a random sequence DNA library is described. A combination of 1 M betaine and 5% DMSO improves the PCR amplification by increasing the ratio of full-length products to shortened products, which are a consequence of nonuniform amplification due to stable secondary structures in the templates. This method is expected to be beneficial for obtaining high-affinity aptamers with stable secondary structures.     

HPLC purification of polymerase chain reaction products for direct sequencing

Same day PCR amplification and sequencing is desired in situations where one needs to sequence a number of PCR products. The rapid, high-yield purification of PCR products via the use of high performance, anion-exchange chromatography yields sequencing results comparable to those obtained from techniques requiring subcloning of the PCR product. This can be achieved by standard dideoxynucleotide sequencing technology without the need to prepare prelabeled primers and additional internal primers or to gel purify the PCR product. In addition, this chromatographic technique offers the potential of isolating several PCR products from the same amplification mixture.     

应用两种基因组快速扩增方法进行病毒芯片杂交鉴定

为了摸索均衡的病毒基因组扩增方法,建立高通量的病毒检测基因芯片技术平台,本研究以甲病毒属的辛德比斯病毒作为检测模型,分别以随机PCR扩增法和MDA( Multiple Displacement Amplification)扩增法扩增病毒基因组,并以两种扩增产物作为模板,扩增辛德比斯病毒的特异基因片段以验证基因组扩增的均衡性;然后将两种基因组扩增产物标记荧光染料后与基因芯片进行杂交;结果表明从两种基因组扩增产物中正确扩增出了辛德比斯的特定基因片段,作为探针可与基因芯片上的靶标基因特异性结合;基因组扩增产物与基因芯片进行杂交,可成功检测到甲病毒属的特异性信号,充分说明随机PCR扩增法和MDA扩增法用于扩增病毒基因组均具有良好的均衡性,扩增产物可用于病毒性病原体的基因芯片检测。     

Potential influence of the first PCR cycles in real-time comparative gene quantifications

There is an underlying assumption in real-time PCR that the amplification efficiency is equal from the first cycles until a signal can be detected. In this study, we evaluated this assumption by analyzing genes with known gene copy number using real-time PCR comparative gene quantifications. Listeria monocytogenes has six 23S rRNA gene copies and one copy of the hlyA gene. We determined 23S rRNA gene copy numbers between 0.9 and 1.6 relative to hlyA when applying the comparative gene quantification approach. This paper focuses on the first cycles of PCR to explain the difference between known and determined gene copy numbers. Both theoretical and experimental evaluations were done. There are three different products (types 1-3) dominating in the first cycles. Type 1 is the original target, type 2 are undefined long products, while type 3 are products that accumulate during PCR. We evaluated the effects of type 1 and 2 products during the first cycles by cutting the target DNA with a restriction enzyme that cuts outside the boundaries of the PCR products. The digestion resulted in a presumed increased amplification efficiency for type 1 and 2 products. Differences in the amplification efficiencies between type 1, 2, and 3 products may explain part of the error in the gene copy number determinations using real-time PCR comparative gene quantifications. Future applications of real-time PCR quantifications should account for the effect of the first few PCR cycles on the conclusions drawn.     

Telomeric repeat amplification, without shortening or lengthening of the telomerase products: a method to analyze the processivity of telomerase enzyme

The Telomeric Repeat Amplification Protocol (TRAP) and its modified versions (including ours, TP-TRAP) change the size and/or the ratio of the telomerase products in the amplification stage of the assay. Based on our recently published method we developed a new TRAP. This method ensures that the number of telomeric repeats present in the original telomerase products does not change on PCR amplification. The usefulness of the method was proved with amplification of chemically synthesized telomerase products and a newly designed telomerase substrate oligonucleotide. This is the first report in which the PCR products directly reflect the size distribution of telomerase products generated by the enzyme.     

Nuclear and mitochondrial forms of human uracil-DNA glycosylase are encoded by the same gene.

Recent cloning of a cDNA (UNG15) encoding human uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG), indicated that the gene product of M(r) = 33,800 contains an N-terminal sequence of 77 amino acids not present in the presumed mature form of M(r) = 25,800. This led to the hypothesis that the N-terminal sequence might be involved in intracellular targeting. To examine this hypothesis, we analysed UDG from nuclei, mitochondria and cytosol by western blotting and high resolution gel filtration. An antibody that recognises a sequence in the mature form of the UNG protein detected all three forms, indicating that they are products of the same gene. The nuclear and mitochondrial form had an apparent M(r) = 27,500 and the cytosolic form an apparent M(r) = 38,000 by western blotting. Gel filtration gave essentially similar estimates. An antibody with specificity towards the presequence recognised the cytosolic form of M(r) = 38,000 only, indicating that the difference in size is due to the presequence. Immunofluorescence studies of HeLa cells clearly demonstrated that the major part of the UDG activity was localised in the nuclei. Transfection experiments with plasmids carrying full-length UNG15 cDNA or a truncated form of UNG15 encoding the presumed mature UNG protein demonstrated that the UNG presequence mediated sorting to the mitochondria, whereas UNG lacking the presequence was translocated to the nuclei. We conclude that the same gene encodes nuclear and mitochondrial uracil-DNA glycosylase and that the signals for mitochondrial translocation resides in the presequence, whereas signals for nuclear import are within the mature protein.     

PCR- and ligation-mediated synthesis of marker cassettes with long flanking homology regions for gene disruption in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We developed a novel method for synthesizing marker-disrupted alleles of yeast genes. The first step is PCR amplification of two sequences located upstream and downstream of the reading frame to be disrupted. Due to the addition of non-specific single A overhangs by Taq DNA polymerase, each PCR product can be ligated with a marker DNA which has T residues at its 3' ends. After amplification of individual ligation products through the second PCR, both products are mixed and annealed, and the single strand is converted to a double strand by an extension reaction. The final step is PCR amplification of the fragment composed of a selectable marker and two flanking sequences with the outermost primers. This method is rapid and needs only short oligonucleotides as primers.     

A New PCR Method: One Primer Amplification of PCR-CTPP Products

Polymerase chain reaction with confronting two-pair primers (PCR-CTPP) is a convenient method for genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms, saving time, and costs. It uses four primers for PCR; F1 and R1 for one allele, and F2 and R2 for the other allele, by which three different sizes of DNA are amplified; between F1 and R1, between F2 and R2, and between F1 and R2. To date, we have applied PCR-CTPP successfully for genotyping more than 60 polymorphisms. However, it is not rare that PCR does not produce balanced amplification of allele specific bands. Accordingly, the method was modified by attaching a common sequence at the 5' end of two-pair primers and adding another primer with the common sequence in PCR, in total five different primers in a tube for PCR. The modification allowed one primer amplification for the products of initial PCR with confronting two-pair primers, named as one primer amplification of PCR-CTPP products (OPA-CTPP). This article demonstrates an example for an A/G polymorphism of paraoxonase 1 (PON1) Gln192Arg (rs662). PCR-CTPP failed clear genotyping for the polymorphism, while OPA-CTPP successfully produced PCR products corresponding to the allele. The present example indicated that the OPA-CTPP would be useful in the case that PCR-CTPP failed to produce balanced PCR products specific to each allele.     

Structure and specificity of the vertebrate anti-mutator uracil-DNA glycosylase SMUG1

Cytosine deamination is a major promutagenic process, generating G:U mismatches that can cause transition mutations if not repaired. Uracil is also introduced into DNA via nonmutagenic incorporation of dUTP during replication. In bacteria, uracil is excised by uracil-DNA glycosylases (UDG) related to E. coli UNG, and UNG homologs are found in mammals and viruses. Ung knockout mice display no increase in mutation frequency due to a second UDG activity, SMUG1, which is specialized for antimutational uracil excision in mammalian cells. Remarkably, SMUG1 also excises the oxidation-damage product 5-hydroxymethyluracil (HmU), but like UNG is inactive against thymine (5-methyluracil), a chemical substructure of HmU. We have solved the crystal structure of SMUG1 complexed with DNA and base-excision products. This structure indicates a more invasive interaction with dsDNA than observed with other UDGs and reveals an elegant water displacement/replacement mechanism that allows SMUG1 to exclude thymine from its active site while accepting HmU.     

Uracil DNA N-glycosylase promotes assembly of human centromere protein A

Uracil is removed from DNA by the conserved enzyme uracil DNA N-glycosylase (UNG). Previously, we observed that inhibiting UNG in Xenopus egg extracts blocked assembly of CENP-A, a histone H3 variant. CENP-A is an essential protein in all species, since it is required for chromosome segregation during mitosis. Thus, the implication of UNG in CENP-A assembly implies that UNG would also be essential, but UNG mutants lacking catalytic activity are viable in all species. In this paper, we present evidence that UNG2 colocalizes with CENP-A and H2AX phosphorylation at centromeres in normally cycling cells. Reduction of UNG2 in human cells blocks CENP-A assembly, and results in reduced cell proliferation, associated with increased frequencies of mitotic abnormalities and rapid cell death. Overexpression of UNG2 induces high levels of CENP-A assembly in human cells. Using a multiphoton laser approach, we demonstrate that UNG2 is rapidly recruited to sites of DNA damage. Taken together, our data are consistent with a model in which the N-terminus of UNG2 interacts with the active site of the enzyme and with chromatin.     

转水稻粗缩病毒运动蛋白缺陷型基因玉米的二重PCR检测研究

本研究以外源基因（RDV MP-）和玉米内源基因Zein作为PCR扩增对象,旨在建立一种简便有效的转基因玉米及其产品的二重PCR检测技术。转外源基因（RDV MP-）材料的常规PCR检测结果证明外源基因在转基因材料中可稳定遗传;对常规PCR检测的阴性结果材料进行二重PCR检测,扩增结果除进一步证实常规PCR检测的阴性结果结论外,还证明提取的植物总DNA质量符合试验要求,进而从二重PCR检测结果还得出常规PCR检测的阴性结果出错率为1.4%。此方法简单,实用,结果可靠,可适用于转基因植物及产品的检测。     

Identification of clinically relevant yeasts by PCR/RFLP

For molecular diagnosis of fungal disease using DNA amplification procedures in the routine laboratory, choice of appropriate target structures and rapid and inexpensive identification of amplification products are important prerequisites. Most diagnostic procedures described thus far are characterized by limited applicability, considerable cost for laboratory equipment or low power of discrimination between species. This study aimed at identification of a PCR target appropriate for diagnosis of clinically relevant yeasts and an affordable procedure for characterization of the PCR products to the species level. Here, we describe a PCR-based system using amplification of intergenic spacers ITS1 and ITS2 and restriction length polymorphism of PCR products after sequence-specific enzymatic cleavage. We show the evaluation of the system for clinically relevant Candida species. The simple and inexpensive procedure should be instrumental for rapid identification of medically important yeasts.