Cassette labeling for facile construction of energy transfer fluorescent primers.

DNA primer sets, labeled with two fluorescent dyes to exploit fluorescence energy transfer (ET), can be efficiently excited with a single laser line and emit strong fluorescence at distinctive wavelengths. Such ET primers are superior to single fluorophore-labeled primers for DNA sequencing and other multiple color-based analyses [J. Ju, C. Ruan, C. W. Fuller, A. N. Glazer and R. A. Mathies (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 4347-4351]. We describe here a novel method of constructing fluorescent primers using a universal ET cassette that can be incorporated by conventional synthesis at the 5'-end of an oligonucleotide primer of any sequence. In this cassette, the donor and acceptor fluorophores are separated by a polymer spacer (S6) formed by six 1',2'-dideoxyribose phosphate monomers (S). The donor is attached to the 5' side of the ribose spacer and the acceptor to a modified thymidine attached to the 3' end of the ribose spacer in the ET cassette. The resulting primers, labeled with 6-carboxy-fluorescein as the donor and other fluorescein and rhodamine dyes as acceptors, display well-separated acceptor emission spectra with 2-12-fold enhanced fluorescence intensity relative to that of the corresponding single dye-labeled primers. With single- stranded M13mp18DNA as the template, a typical run with these ET primers on a capillary sequencer provides DNA sequences with 99% accuracy in the first 550 bases using the same amount of DNA template as that typically required using a four-color slab gel automated sequencer.     

Ligation mediated fluorescent labeling of DNA sequencing primers.

Automated DNA sequencing utilizing fluorescently labeled primers is a proven methodology for generating quality sequence data. However, for directed primer walking strategies this necessitates synthesis and labeling of a unique primer for each sequencing reaction. Here, we describe a rapid ligation-based method of generating labeled sequencing primers. An unlabeled 5'-phosphorylated sequencing primer is ligated to a fluorescent oligonucleotide by use of a bridge primer which is complementary to portions of the previous two oligonucleotides, thus aligning them properly for ligation. The resulting fluorescent hybrid primer can be utilized directly in cycle sequencing reactions without any prior purification.     

Multiplex PCR with the blunt hairpin primers for next generation sequencing

The multiplex PCR is one of the important methods to enrich the target DNAs for next generation sequencing. The non-specific amplification and interaction between the primers are the pivotal challenges of multiplex PCR. Here, we introduce the novel blunt hairpin primers for effective reducing the primer dimers and mispriming events. We also used a pair of auxiliary primers to enhance PCR efficiency. We simultaneously amplified 89 target regions from 44 samples and sequenced all amplicons on ion torrent PGM platform. Among all the filtrated amplicons (3438 different amplicons), 99.7, 97.6, 90.1 and 72.8% had sequencing depths fell within 200, 100, 50 and 25-fold range. The sequencing depth variations among all the samples were less than 27-fold. We also amplified multiplex regions with blunt hairpin, stick hairpin and normal linear primers, and the blunt hairpin primers could significantly reduce the amount of primer dimers and unspecific products.These results show that multiplex PCR with the blunt hairpin primers is a flexible, specific and economical target-region captured approach for the next generation sequencing.     

DNA sequencing with solid-phase-capturable dideoxynucleotides and energy transfer primers

False terminations occurring in fluorescent dye-primer DNA sequencing, and nonsequencing primer extension DNA fragments generated in dye-terminator sequencing cause background noise in fluorescent electropherograms, leading to errors in sequence determination. We describe here a DNA sequencing chemistry that produces accurate and clean sequencing data on a fluorescent DNA sequencer, eliminating the false terminations and background noise. The procedure involves coupling fluorescence energy transfer (ET) primers that produce high fluorescent signals with solid-phase-capturable biotinylated dideoxynucleotides to generate Sanger DNA sequencing fragments. After the sequencing reaction,the DNA extension fragments that carry a biotin at the 3' end are captured with streptavidin-coated magnetic beads, while the other components in the sequencing reaction are washed away. Only pure DNA extension products terminated by the biotinylated dideoxynucleotides are released from the magnetic beads and are loaded onto a sequencing gel to produce accurate sequencing data.     

PCR primers useful for nucleotide sequencing of rDNA of the powdery mildew fungi

Four PCR primers that are useful to determine the nucleotide sequences of the rDNA of the powdery mildew fungi were newly designed. These primers provide both enough stability to work on a wide range of powdery mildews and enough specificity to eliminate contaminating DNA by PCR. DNA sequences of the rDNA ITS region were successfully obtained from specimens that were contaminated by other fungi. In addition, sequence results of the 18S and 28S rDNA were dramatically improved by using these primers in most of the specimens examined.     

3-Nitropyrrole and 5-nitroindole as universal bases in primers for DNA sequencing and PCR.

3-Nitropyrrole and 5-nitroindole have been assessed as universal bases in primers for dideoxy DNA sequencing and in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In contrast to a previous report, we have found that the introduction of more than one 3-nitropyrrole residue at dispersed positions into primers significantly reduced their efficiency in PCR and sequencing reactions. Primers containing 5-nitroindole at multiple dispersed positions were similarly affected; for both bases only a small number of substitutions were tolerated. In PCR experiments neither base, when incorporated into primers in codon third positions, was as effective as hypoxanthine, which was incorporated in six codon third positions in a 20mer oligomer. However, primers containing up to four consecutive 5-nitroindole substitutions performed well in both PCR and sequencing reactions. Consecutive 3-nitropyrrole substitutions were tolerated, but less well in comparable reactions.     

Variations in T-RFLP profiles with differing chemistries of fluorescent dyes used for labeling the PCR primers

Culture independent molecular methods have emerged as indispensable tools for studying microbial community structure and dynamics in natural habitats, since they allow a closer look at microbial diversity that is not reflected by culturing techniques. Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis is one of the informative and widely used techniques for such studies. However, the method has a few limitations to predict microbial community structure with significant accuracy. One of the major limitations is variation in real Terminal Restriction Fragment (TRF) length and observed TRF length. In the present study we report the generation of TRF length variations using different fluorescent dyes to label the PCR primers. T-RFLP profiles generated from primers labeled with different dyes varied significantly and led to inconsistent microbial species identification. Occurrence of such variations can have serious consequences on interpretation of the T-RFLP profiles from environmental samples representing complex microbial community. Therefore, in a T-RFLP study, the primers and labeling dye system should be carefully evaluated and optimized for an individual community under investigation. Further, it would be recommended to establish a target gene library in parallel with T-RFLP analysis to facilitate the accurate prediction of microbial community structure.     

Position-dependent effects of locked nucleic acid (LNA) on DNA sequencing and PCR primers

Genomes are becoming heavily annotated with important features. Analysis of these features often employs oligonucleotides that hybridize at defined locations. When the defined location lies in a poor sequence context, traditional design strategies may fail. Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) can enhance oligonucleotide affinity and specificity. Though LNA has been used in many applications, formal design rules are still being defined. To further this effort we have investigated the effect of LNA on the performance of sequencing and PCR primers in AT-rich regions, where short primers yield poor sequencing reads or PCR yields. LNA was used in three positional patterns: near the 5′ end (LNA-5′), near the 3′ end (LNA-3′) and distributed throughout (LNA-Even). Quantitative measures of sequencing read length (Phred Q30 count) and real-time PCR signal (cycle threshold, C_T) were characterized using two-way ANOVA. LNA-5′ increased the average Phred Q30 score by 60% and it was never observed to decrease performance. LNA-5′ generated cycle thresholds in quantitative PCR that were comparable to high-yielding conventional primers. In contrast, LNA-3′ and LNA-Even did not improve read lengths or C_T. ANOVA demonstrated the statistical significance of these results and identified significant interaction between the positional design rule and primer sequence.     

Development of PCR primers specific for the amplification and direct sequencing of gyrB genes from microbacteria, order Actinomycetales

PCR primer sets were developed for the specific amplification and sequence analyses encoding the gyrase subunit B (gyrB) of members of the family Microbacteriaceae, class Actinobacteria. The family contains species highly related by 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses. In order to test if the gene sequence analysis of gyrB is appropriate to discriminate between closely related species, we evaluate the 16S rRNA gene phylogeny of its members. As the published universal primer set for gyrB failed to amplify the responding gene of the majority of the 80 type strains of the family, three new primer sets were identified that generated fragments with a composite sequence length of about 900 nt. However, the amplification of all three fragments was successful only in 25% of the 80 type strains. In this study, the substitution frequencies in genes encoding gyrase and 16S rDNA were compared for 10 strains of nine genera. The frequency of gyrB nucleotide substitution is significantly higher than that of the 16S rDNA, and no linear correlation exists between the similarities of both molecules among members of the Microbacteriaceae. The phylogenetic analyses using the gyrB sequences provide higher resolution than using 16S rDNA sequences and seem able to discriminate between closely related species.     

Use of allele-specific sequencing primers is an efficient alternative to PCR subcloning of low-copy nuclear genes

Direct Sanger sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified nuclear genes leads to polymorphic sequences when allelic variation is present. To overcome this problem, most researchers subclone the PCR products to separate alleles. An alternative is to directly sequence the separate alleles using allele-specific primers. We tested two methods to enhance the specificity of allele-specific primers for use in direct sequencing: using short primers and amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) technique. By shortening the allele-specific primer to 15-13 nucleotides, the single mismatch in the ultimate base of the primer is enough to hinder the amplification of the nontarget allele in direct sequencing and recover only the targeted allele at high accuracy. The deliberate addition of a second mismatch, as implemented in the ARMS technique, was less successful and seems better suited for allele-specific amplification in regular PCR rather than in direct sequencing.     

PCR and DNA sequencing

Specific DNA segments defined by the sequence of two oligonucleotides can be enzymatically amplified up to a millionfold using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). One of the most significant uses of this technique is for generation of sequencing templates, either from cloned inserts or directly from genomic DNA. To avoid the problem of reassociation of the linear DNA strands in the sequencing reaction, ssDNA templates can be produced directly in the PCR or generated directly from dsDNA by enzymatic treatment, electrophoretic separation or affinity purification. By combining PCR with direct sequencing, both the amplification and the sequencing reaction can be performed in the same vial. Finally, use of fluorescently labeled terminators or sequencing primers will allow the whole procedure to be amenable to complete automation.     

The use of tailed octamer primers for cycle sequencing.

Studies have been carried out on the use of octamer oligonucleotides tailed with different base analogues as primers in cycle sequencing reactions. 5-Nitroindole tails improved the performance as primers of a number of octamers. A tail length of three or four 5-nitroindole residues significantly increased the sequencing signal intensity for almost all primers. The use of incomplete libraries of tailed octamer primers for primer walking is discussed.     

美洲斑潜蝇SS-PCR检测技术研究

【背景】美洲斑潜蝇是一种严重威胁瓜果蔬菜、烟草、棉花等经济作物和花卉生产的入侵性害虫。由于潜叶蝇类害虫体型较小、生活方式隐蔽、形态相似,本文针对其难以快速准确地进行形态鉴别的问题,以美洲斑潜蝇为研究对象,以菜田常见的4种潜叶蝇类害虫为参照,采用种特异性PCR方法（species-specific PCR,SS-PCR）,研究其快速分子检测鉴定技术。【方法】调用GenBank中一段936bp的美洲斑潜蝇线粒体DNA（mtDNA）细胞色素氧化酶亚基Ⅰ基因（COⅠ）的序列（Gen-Bank登录号为EU219613）,并根据此基因片段的碱基序列设计引物1对,其扩增片段大小为294bp。【结果】种特异性检验结果显示,该引物只对美洲斑潜蝇的COⅠ基因具有扩增能力,对其他种类如南美斑潜蝇、三叶斑潜蝇、葱斑潜蝇、豌豆潜叶蝇等没有扩增能力。该引物不仅对成虫具有良好的扩增效果,对蛹、幼虫以及单粒卵也具有同样的扩增效果,其最低检出阈值为1/3840头成虫。【结论与意义】SS-PCR技术体系可用于美洲斑潜蝇的鉴定识别与检测监测,对阻止其进一步扩散蔓延具有重要意义。