RNA Isolation – Sea Star Coelomocytes (provided by Colleen Burge)

Isolated RNA from the following samples (stored in RNAlater):

P18 Control 3/17/14

P10 Filt. Inj. 3/17/14

These were “trial” RNA isolation runs to determine what yields we could expect from samples of this nature.

Both samples had very small tissue/cell pellets. Tubes were spun @ 5000g for 10mins at RT to ensure all cells were pelleted. RNAlater was removed and pellets were lysed using 1000uL of TriReagent, supplemented with 8uL of PolyAcryl carrier. PolyAcryl Carrier was used to enhance RNA recovery from such small starting materials. Remainder of procedure followed manufacturer’s protocol. RNA was resuspended in 20uL of 0.1% DEPC-H2O and spec’d on a NandoDrop1000.

Results:

As can be seen by the absorbance spectrum plots (top image), there is clear phenol contamination (indicated by shift of absorbance peak to 270nm, instead of the peak being at 260nm). Additionally, there’re large peaks at 230nm in each of the two samples, suggesting other contamination (high residual salts, ethanol?). Additionally, the 260/280 ratios are subpar for RNA quality (i.e. <1.9). However, these ratios could be skewed by the the residual phenol present in both samples. I may perform an ethanol precipitation on these just to see if I can get them cleaned up.

Yields for both samples are very promising.

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