Transgene Detection by Digital Droplet PCR

Somatic gene therapy is a promising tool for the treatment of severe diseases. Because of its abuse potential for performance enhancement in sports, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) included the term ‘gene doping’ in the official list of banned substances and methods in 2004. Several nested PCR or qPCR-based strategies have been proposed that aim at detecting long-term presence of transgene in blood, but these strategies are hampered by technical limitations. We developed a digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) protocol for Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF1) detection and demonstrated its applicability monitoring 6 mice injected into skeletal muscle with AAV9-IGF1 elements and 2 controls over a 33-day period. A duplex ddPCR protocol for simultaneous detection of Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF1) and Erythropoietin (EPO) transgenic elements was created. A new DNA extraction procedure with target-orientated usage of restriction enzymes including on-column DNA-digestion was established. In vivo data revealed that IGF1 transgenic elements could be reliably detected for a 33-day period in DNA extracted from whole blood. In vitro data indicated feasibility of IGF1 and EPO detection by duplex ddPCR with high reliability and sensitivity. On-column DNA-digestion allowed for significantly improved target detection in downstream PCR-based approaches. As ddPCR provides absolute quantification, it ensures excellent day-to-day reproducibility. Therefore, we expect this technique to be used in diagnosing and monitoring of viral and bacterial infection, in detecting mutated DNA sequences as well as profiling for the presence of foreign genetic material in elite athletes in the future.     

逆转录-聚合酶链式反应检测果树RNA病毒

为调查主要果树携带苹果褪绿叶斑病毒(ACLSV)、苹果茎沟病毒(ASGV)、苹果茎痘病毒(ASPV)和李属坏死环斑病毒(PNRSV)的情况,以指示植物为试材,优化了四种病毒的逆转录-聚合酶链式反应(RT-PCR)检测体系.使用该优化体系检测了苹果树、樱桃树、桃树中携带上述四种病毒的情况.结果:建立了特异性强、灵敏度高、成本低的RT-PCR检测体系;同时又证明主要果树被这几种病毒单独感染和复合感染的程度均较高.     

荧光定量RT-PCR技术快速检测SARS病毒核酸

建立以特异性荧光探针为特点的TaqMan荧光定量RT-PCR方法用于检测严重急性呼吸道综合症病毒(severe acute respiratory syndrome -associate coronavirus,SARS-CoV)核酸.筛选针对SARS病毒基因保守区域设计的引物与TaqMan探针,并对荧光定量RT-PCR反应体系与反应条件进行优化,验证本方法的特异性、敏感度与重复性. 实验结果表明本方法对SARS病毒核酸的检测具有高度特异性,与甲1型、甲3型、乙型流感病毒、禽流感病毒H5N1、麻疹及其他呼吸道病毒均无交叉反应;检测灵敏度达0.1TCID50;从病毒核酸提取至检测完成仅需3h左右,且操作简便,重复性好.本研究建立的TaqMan荧光定量RT-PCR方法特异、敏感、快速,适合于临床实验室进行SARS病毒的早期快速检测.     

荧光定量RT-PCR技术快速检测SARS病毒核酸

建立以特异性荧光探针为特点的TaqMan荧光定量RTPCR方法用于检测严重急性呼吸道综合症病毒(severeacuterespiratorysyndromeassociatecoronavirus,SARSCoV)核酸。筛选针对SARS病毒基因保守区域设计的引物与TaqMan探针,并对荧光定量RTPCR反应体系与反应条件进行优化,验证本方法的特异性、敏感度与重复性。实验结果表明:本方法对SARS病毒核酸的检测具有高度特异性,与甲1型、甲3型、乙型流感病毒、禽流感病毒H5N1、麻疹及其他呼吸道病毒均无交叉反应;检测灵敏度达0.1TCID50;从病毒核酸提取至检测完成仅需3h左右,且操作简便,重复性好。本研究建立的TaqMan荧光定量RTPCR方法特异、敏感、快速,适合于临床实验室进行SARS病毒的早期快速检测。     

链特异性RT-PCR方法检测口蹄疫病毒负链RNA

旨在建立一种快速、灵敏、特异的检测口蹄疫病毒在复制过程中产生的负链RNA的方法。根据口蹄疫病毒(foot-and-mouth disease virus,FMDV)病毒5’-非编码区(5’-UTR)基因序列,设计了5条引物链特异性RT-PCR引物,建立检测口蹄疫病毒负链RNA的链特异性RT-PCR方法。提取FMD病毒RNA,应用设计的正向引物T1-H1做反转录引物,经反转录和RNA酶A消化后,再经两轮链特异性PCR扩增,可特异性地检测FMDV在复制过程中产生的负链RNA。所建立的检测口蹄疫病毒负链RNA的链特异性RT-PCR方法是一种可靠的方法,在确定细胞培养物和动物感染FMDV的病毒复制和了解病毒的致病性研究中具有应用前景。     

Innate Immune Suppression Enables Frequent Transfection with RNA Encoding Reprogramming Proteins

Background

Generating autologous pluripotent stem cells for therapeutic applications will require the development of efficient DNA-free reprogramming techniques. Transfecting cells with in vitro-transcribed, protein-encoding RNA is a straightforward method of directly expressing high levels of reprogramming proteins without genetic modification. However, long-RNA transfection triggers a potent innate immune response characterized by growth inhibition and the production of inflammatory cytokines. As a result, repeated transfection with protein-encoding RNA causes cell death.

Methodology/Principal Findings

RNA viruses have evolved methods of disrupting innate immune signaling by destroying or inhibiting specific proteins to enable persistent infection. Starting from a list of known viral targets, we performed a combinatorial screen to identify siRNA cocktails that could desensitize cells to exogenous RNA. We show that combined knockdown of interferon-β (Ifnb1), Eif2ak2, and Stat2 rescues cells from the innate immune response triggered by frequent long-RNA transfection. Using this technique, we were able to transfect primary human fibroblasts every 24 hours with RNA encoding the reprogramming proteins Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and Utf1. We provide evidence that the encoded protein is active, and we show that expression can be maintained for many days, through multiple rounds of cell division.

Conclusions/Significance

Our results demonstrate that suppressing innate immunity enables frequent transfection with protein-encoding RNA. This technique represents a versatile tool for investigating expression dynamics and protein interactions by enabling precise control over levels and timing of protein expression. Our finding also opens the door for the development of reprogramming and directed-differentiation methods based on long-RNA transfection.     

Detection of MET Gene Copy Number in Cancer Samples Using the Droplet Digital PCR Method

Purpose

The analysis of MET gene copy number (CN) has been considered to be a potential biomarker to predict the response to MET-targeted therapies in various cancers. However, the current standard methods to determine MET CN are SNP 6.0 in the genomic DNA of cancer cell lines and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in tumor models, respectively, which are costly and require advanced technical skills and result in relatively subjective judgments. Therefore, we employed a novel method, droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), to determine the MET gene copy number with high accuracy and precision.

Methods

The genomic DNA of cancer cell lines or tumor models were tested and compared with the MET gene CN and MET/CEN-7 ratio determined by SNP 6.0 and FISH, respectively.

Results

In cell lines, the linear association of the MET CN detected by ddPCR and SNP 6.0 is strong (Pearson correlation = 0.867). In tumor models, the MET CN detected by ddPCR was significantly different between the MET gene amplification and non-amplification groups according to FISH (mean: 15.4 vs 2.1; P = 0.044). Given that MET gene amplification is defined as MET CN >5.5 by ddPCR, the concordance rate between ddPCR and FISH was 98.0%, and Cohen''s kappa coefficient was 0.760 (95% CI, 0.498–1.000; P <0.001).

Conclusions

The results demonstrated that the ddPCR method has the potential to quantify the MET gene copy number with high precision and accuracy as compared with the results from SNP 6.0 and FISH in cancer cell lines and tumor samples, respectively.     

逆转录套式PCR检测粪便样本中的SARS冠状病毒

为了观察SARS冠状病毒在SARS患者粪便中的存在规律,建立了检测SARS冠状病毒RNA的逆转录-聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)方法,并应用该方法检测了241份SARS患者粪便样本。部分PCR产物应用测序技术进行验证。RT-PCR的灵敏度为10^-10稀释度的病毒原液(原液为10^8TCID50／ml)。241份粪便样本的总体检出率为24．1％(58／241),其中发病后的前10d和20d的检出率均为50．0％。随着发病时间的延长,阳性检出率呈下降趋势。应用RT-PCR从粪便中检测SARS冠状病毒是可行的,在发病50d以后仍有17．0％左右的阳性检出率,提示SARS恢复期患者具有排毒的可能性,给后续的卫生防疫措施提供了一定的参考数据。     

RNA Interference Silencing of a Major Lipid Droplet Protein Affects Lipid Droplet Size in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Eukaryotic cells store oils in the chemical form of triacylglycerols in distinct organelles, often called lipid droplets. These dynamic storage compartments have been intensely studied in the context of human health and also in plants as a source of vegetable oils for human consumption and for chemical or biofuel feedstocks. Many microalgae accumulate oils, particularly under conditions limiting to growth, and thus have gained renewed attention as a potentially sustainable feedstock for biofuel production. However, little is currently known at the cellular or molecular levels with regard to oil accumulation in microalgae, and the structural proteins and enzymes involved in the biogenesis, maintenance, and degradation of algal oil storage compartments are not well studied. Focusing on the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the accumulation of triacylglycerols and the formation of lipid droplets during nitrogen deprivation were investigated. Mass spectrometry identified 259 proteins in a lipid droplet-enriched fraction, among them a major protein, tentatively designated major lipid droplet protein (MLDP). This protein is specific to the green algal lineage of photosynthetic organisms. Repression of MLDP gene expression using an RNA interference approach led to increased lipid droplet size, but no change in triacylglycerol content or metabolism was observed.Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are stored in lipid droplets which are subcellular structures in specialized cells ubiquitous to eukaryotes but have more recently also been identified in some prokaryotes (26). In plants and animals, lipid droplets are surrounded by cytosol and are believed to bud off the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) (15, 26). While traditionally considered merely as storage compartments, recent studies suggest that lipid droplets in animals play important additional roles in lipid homeostasis and protein storage (8). In oilseed plants, TAG accumulated in seeds is used as a reservoir of energy and membrane lipid building blocks to support rapid growth after germination (15). Many green algae are capable of accumulating large amounts of TAG in lipid droplets, particularly as a result of abiotic stresses, such as nutrient deprivation or high-light exposure. Although TAG metabolism in algae has not yet been extensively studied at the biochemical or molecular level, it is proposed that TAG turnover contributes primarily to the assembly of membrane lipids to facilitate rapid cell division after the cessation of nutrient limitation (14, 38).The general structure of lipid droplets is conserved in different species with a globular neutral lipid core enclosed by a membrane lipid monolayer (26). In addition, specific proteins are associated with lipid droplets and play important roles in lipid droplet structure and function. A number of recent proteomic studies of lipid droplets from different animals and tissues (8, 40), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (4), and plants (16, 17) have revealed that the lipid droplet-associated proteins of these organisms are quite distinct. For example, the abundant lipid droplet proteins in animals—the so-called “PAT” family of proteins comprised of perilipin, adipose differentiation-related protein (ADRP), and TIP47 (21)—have no apparent orthologs in the desiccating seed plant Arabidopsis thaliana; conversely, the oleosins which coat the oil bodies of Arabidopsis and many other seed plants are not found in animals (26). Reverse genetic studies of these proteins have helped to elucidate the role of A. thaliana oleosins in regulating lipid droplet size and preventing droplet fusion (35, 36) or that of mouse adipocyte perilipin in regulating lipolytic activity at the lipid droplet surface (37). Moreover, recent genomewide RNAi screens in Drosophila cells implicated 1.5 to 3.0% of all genes as directly or indirectly involved in lipid droplet formation and/or regulation and resulted in the identification of a new role for the Arf1-COPI vesicular transport machinery in regulating droplet morphology and lipid utilization (7, 12). In contrast, few molecular details are known about algal lipid droplet biogenesis although many TAG-rich algal species have been described (14).Our efforts to identify proteins related to the PAT protein family or oleosins in the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii genome (24) or genomes of other green algal and diatom species, including Thalassiosira pseudonana, Volvox carteri, and Chlorella sp. NC64A, revealed no putative algal orthologs. In order to identify both potentially novel and conserved proteins which function in algal lipid droplet biogenesis, we studied the accumulation of TAG in lipid droplets of nitrogen-limited C. reinhardtii cells and identified candidate lipid droplet-associated proteins by mass spectrometry.     

Repeat cDNA synthesis and RT-PCR with the same source of RNA

A simple method has been developed that enables reextraction of RNA from an RNA-cDNA mixture. The reextracted RNA was converted to cDNA followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Thus, cDNA synthesis (followed by PCR) was carried out two times on the same source of RNA. The method has been applied to 40 RNA samples of diverse tissue origin with a success rate of 100%. Thus, the method offers more versatile use of small but valuable RNA sources than currently possible.     

Highly Precise Measurement of HIV DNA by Droplet Digital PCR

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) provides the most sensitive measurement of residual infection in patients on effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) has recently been shown to provide highly accurate quantification of DNA copy number, but its application to quantification of HIV DNA, or other equally rare targets, has not been reported. This paper demonstrates and analyzes the application of ddPCR to measure the frequency of total HIV DNA (pol copies per million cells), and episomal 2-LTR (long terminal repeat) circles in cells isolated from infected patients. Analysis of over 300 clinical samples, including over 150 clinical samples assayed in triplicate by ddPCR and by real-time PCR (qPCR), demonstrates a significant increase in precision, with an average 5-fold decrease in the coefficient of variation of pol copy numbers and a >20-fold accuracy improvement for 2-LTR circles. Additional benefits of the ddPCR assay over qPCR include absolute quantification without reliance on an external standard and relative insensitivity to mismatches in primer and probe sequences. These features make digital PCR an attractive alternative for measurement of HIV DNA in clinical specimens. The improved sensitivity and precision of measurement of these rare events should facilitate measurements to characterize the latent HIV reservoir and interventions to eradicate it.     

非洲马瘟病毒群特异性RT-PCR检测方法的研究

非洲马瘟病毒(African horse sickness virus,AHSV)为双股RNA病毒,感染所有马科动物.设计2对位于AHSV基因组S7片段的引物,经RT-PCR扩增,证实2对引物对6种血清型的AHSV RNA均有特异性扩增,且能对同属的蓝舌病病毒(BTV)、鹿出血热病毒(EHDV)进行区别诊断.经序列测定及Blast,证实所扩增的条带确为AHSV S7相应位置核苷酸序列,表明已初步建立AHSV群特异性RT-PCR检测方法.     

Microbial Detection with Low Molecular Weight RNA

The need to monitor microorganisms in the environment has increased interest in assays based on hybridization probes that target nucleic acids (e.g., rRNA). We report the development of liquid-phase assays for specific bacterial 5S rRNA sequences or similarly sized artificial RNAs (aRNAs) using molecular beacon technology. These beacons fluoresce only in the presence of specific target sequences, rendering as much as a 27-fold fluorescence enhancement. The assays can be used with both crude cell lysates and purified total RNA preparations. Minimal sample preparation (e.g., heating to promote leakage from cells) is sufficient to detect many Gram-negative bacteria. Using this approach it was possible to detect an aRNA-labeled Escherichia coli strain in the presence of a large background of an otherwise identical E. coli strain. Finally, by using a longer wavelength carboxytetramethylrhodamine beacon it was possible to reduce the fraction of the signal due to cellular autofluorescence to below 0.5%. Received: 13 March 2001 / Accepted: 3 May 2001     

马铃薯S病毒RT-PCR检测技术的研究

从感染PVS病毒的马铃薯病叶组织中提取出病毒的RNA,进行反转录cDNA的合成,用特异性引物进行PCR扩增,得到一条长度约为199 bp的特异性PCR扩增产物,与理论设计的外壳蛋白基因大小一致。在基因水平上为PVS的检测提供了一种快速、灵敏、简便的新方法,为PVS的防治提供了有效手段。     

西尼罗病毒的RT-PCR检测与鉴定

建立西尼罗病毒敏感、特异、快速的RT-PCR检测方法用于实验室诊断和流行病学监测。采用一步RT-PCR和套式PCR法对西尼罗病毒感染的乳鼠脑和细胞培养上清进行扩增,并对扩增产物进行序列测定。两种方法均可分别从两种组织中扩增出与预期大小相一致的片段,套式PCR法比一步RT-PCR法更为敏感,该扩增片段与西尼罗病毒埃及Eg101株相应序列的同源性为99％。