Tag Archives: cDNA

Reverse Transcription – O.lurida DNased RNA 1hr post-mechanical stress

Performed reverse transcription on the Olympia oyster DNased RNA from the 1hr post-mechanical stress samples from Jake’s project. To accommodate the large numbers of anticipated genes to be targeted in subsequent qPCRs, I prepared 100μL reactions (normally, 25μL reactions are prepared) using 250ng of each DNased RNA. A 1:10 dilution of the oligo dT primers (Promega) was prepared to improve pipetting accuracy. All incubations were performed in a thermal cycler without using a heated lid.

DNased RNA was combined with NanoPure H2O and oligo dT primers in 24 wells of a PCR plate, heated @ 70C for 10mins and immediately placed on ice. After 5mins, the plate was spun 2000g @ RT for 2mins and returned to ice.

25.25μL of a master mix containing 5x M-MLV Buffer (Promega), dNTPs (10mM each; Promega), and M-MLV Reverse Transcriptase (50U/rxn; Promega) was distributed to each well and mixed via pipetting. The plate was heated @ 42C for 1hr, 95C for 3mins. The plate was spun 2000g @ RT for 2mins and then stored @ -20C.

Plate layout and all calculations can be found here (Google Sheet): 20150806_Jake_oly_mech_stress_cDNA_calcs

Reverse Transcription – Subset of Jake’s O.lurida DNased RNA

Currently don’t have sufficient reagents to perform reverse transcription on the entire set of DNased RNA (control and 1hr.heat-shocked O.lurida ctenidia samples). To enable Jake to start testing out some of his primers while we wait for reagents to come in, Steven suggested I generate some cDNA for him to use.

Used the following DNased RNA:

  • HC1
  • NC1
  • SC1
  • HT1 1
  • NT1 1
  • ST1 1

Reverse Transcription Calcs: 20150522_Jake_Oly_cDNA_Calcs

Briefly:

  • Reactions run in 0.5mL snap cap tubes
  • 250ng of DNased RNA used in each reaction
  • Combined DNased RNA with oligo dT primers and water; incubated 70C 5mins; immediately placed on ice
  • Added 6.75μL of buffer/dNTP/enzyme master mix to each sample; incubated 42C for 1hr; 95C for 3mins

Samples will be given to Jake and stored @ -20C.

qPCR – cDNA from 20120208

Performed qPCR on all 12 samples. Used the following primers, provided by Elene, to detect V.tubiashii expression:

  • rseA_F/R
  • VtpA_F/R
  • VtpR_F/R

Used RE22 DNA (provided by Elene) as a positive control. Master mix calcs are the same as yesterday’s qPCR, but using the primers mentioned above. Plate layout, cycling params, etc. can be found in the qPCR Report (see Results). All samples were run in duplicate.

Results:

qPCR Data File (CFX96)

qPCR Report (PDF)

Positive control worked in all primer sets. All no template controls were clean for all primer sets.

Only one sample (#411) produced any amplification. Amplification was detected in the vtpA primer set (mean Cq = 38.06). However, there was also amplification detected in one of the two replicates for sample #411 in the rseA primer set (Cq = 39.09).

qPCR – cDNA from earlier today

Performed qPCR on all 12 samples. Used Cg_EF1aF/R2 (SR IDs: 1410 & 1412) for one set of qPCRs and Vtub_16s_F/R (SR IDs: 455 & 456) for the other set of qPCRs. Used pooled C.gigas cDNA (from 20110311) and RE22 DNA (provided by Elene) as positive controls for C.gigas and V.tubiashii, respectively. C.gigas gDNA (7ng of BB16 from 20110201) was used as a negative control for EF1a. Master mix calcs are here. Plate layout, cycling params, etc can be found in the qPCR Report (see Results). All samples were run in duplicate.

Results:

qPCR Data File (CFX96)

qPCR Report (PDF)

C.gigas EF1a – Positive control amplified. Negative control and no template control were all clean (i.e. no amplification detected). The majority of samples had amplification, however two samples had no amplification at all (samples 132 & 136).

V.tubiashii 16s – Positive control amplified. No template controls exhibited amplification in both replicates. All samples exhibited amplifcation, however nearly all of the melt curves have multiple peaks present, suggesting that more than one target is being amplified. I suspect this is due to residual gDNA, but this fails to explain the amplification in the no template controls which also exhibited dual peaks in the melt curves.

Spoke with Steven and he suggested to skip troubleshooting the V. tubiashii 16s for now and proceed with trying to qPCR some additional V.tubiashii genes. Will talk with Elene to see if/which additional genes she has primers for.

PCR – Full-length PGS1 cDNA

Still have insufficient quantities of DNA for sequencing. Master mix calcs and cycling params are here. Additionally, used some of the purified PCR product as template in one of the reactions, just for comparison purposes. cDNA template was pooled cDNA from 20110311 from various C.gigas tissues. Also, increased the amount of template 4-fold in an attempt to obtain higher yields of PCR products for sequencing.

Results:

Lane 1: Hyperladder I (Bioline)

Lane 2: PCR 1 (cDNA template)

Lane 3: PCR 2 (cDNA template)

Lane 4: PCR 3 (PCR template)

Lane 5: Neg. Control

Bands were excised and will be purified using Ultra-free DA columns (Millipore). Also, it’s very clear that using the purified PCR product as template produced a much greater yield, although there appear to be some spurious, high-molecular weight banding/smearing.

PCR – Full-length PGS1 cDNA

Need more PCR product for sequencing. Repeated reaction from 20110825.

Results:

Lane 1 – Hypperladder I (Bioline)

Lane 2 – PCR 1 & 2

Lane 3 – PCR 3 & 4

Lane 4 – PCR 5 & 6

Lane 5 – Neg. Control

Bands from lanes 2 – 4 were excised and purified with Ultra-free DA columns (Millipore) and spec’d. Concentration was extremely low (3.5ng/uL) and too dilute for sequencing. Will EtOH precipitate.

PCR – Full-length PGS2 cDNA

Repeated PCR from 20110825 to attempt to amplify the full-length cDNA for PGS2 (COX2), however this time using a more robust polymerase (Amplitaq Gold) in hopes of getting results. Additionally, tried 3 different Mg2+ concentrations (1.5mM, 2.0mM, and 3.0mM). Master mix calcs and cycling params are here. cDNA was pooled cDNA made 20110311 from various tissues. PGS2 primers = 1376, 1375.

PGS2 expected size = ~2500bp

Results:

Loading order doesn’t matter, as there are no bands. Ladder is Hyperladder I (Bioline). Will continue current sequence analysis and potentially design a new set of primers…

PCR – Full-length PGS1 & PGS2 cDNAs

Ran PCR to amplify full-length cDNAs of PGS1 & PGS2 (COX1 & COX2) using primers designed to anneal in the 5’/3’UTRs of each isoform. PGS1 primers = SRIDs: 1377, 1378. PGS2 primers = 1376, 1375. Master mix calcs and cycling params are here. cDNA was pooled cDNA made 20110311 from various tissues.

PGS1 Expected Size = ~2300bp

PGS2 Expected Size = ~2500bp

Results:

Gel

Lane 1 – Hyperladder I (Bioline)

Lane 2 – PGS1

Lane 3 – PGS1 NTC

Lane 4 – PGS1 NTC

Lane 5 – PGS2

Lane 6 – PGS2 NTC

Lane 7 – PGS2 NTC

PGS1 Results: PGS1 PCR produces a single band of the expected size (~2300bp), indicating that the two primers, which were designed to anneal in the 5’/3’UTRs of the gene and should be highly specific to just this isoform, work perfectly. The band was excised and stored @ -20C in “Sam’s Miscellaneous” box.

PGS2 Results: PGS2 PCR didn’t produce any product. Will repeat with a lower annealing temp (50C instead of 55C).

qPCR – C.gigas V.vulnificus Exposure cDNA (from 20110311)

Ran a qPCR using 3hr Vibrio vulnificus exposure cDNA from 20110311. Original experiment conducted on 20110111 with defensin primers (SR IDs: 1109 & 1070) and GAPDH (SR IDs: 1172 & 1173). Master mix calcs are here. Cycling params, plate layout, etc can be seen in the qPCR Report (see Results). This was performed to help Herschel.

Results:

qPCR Report (PDF)

qPCR Data File (CFX96)

Initial glance at data looks good. GAPDH exhibits highly consistent Cq values across all samples, controls and exposed. Although, there is slight amplification of something in the two water samples for GAPDH, the melt curve shows that this product has a different melting temperature than our intended target. As such, I believe the GAPDH data to be useable, since no other samples exhibit this smaller product. Defensin shows clean water sample and clean melt curves with a single peak. However, it seems like we may not see an effect on defensin expression in response to the Vibrio vulnificus exposure…

5’/3′ RACE – C.gigas COX2/PGS2 Nested RACE PCR

Performed nested RACE PCR on the RACE PCR products generated on 20110722 using the following nested primers: PGS2_ngspRACE_5′ (SR ID: 1350) and PGS2_ngspRACE_3′ (SR ID: 1349). Removed 2uL from each of the primary PCR reactions and brought up to 100uL in tricine EDTA (supplied in the Clontech SMARTer RACE cDNA Amplification Kit). Performed the nested RACE PCR according to the Clontech manual. Briefly, this is the same as the primary RACE PCR reaction, but using 5uL of the diluted primary PCR product and 1uL of the Nested Universal Primer (instead of 5uL of the 10X Universal Primer Mix). Master mix calcs and set up are here. Cycling params followed “Program 2″ of the Clontech protocol, modified for nested primers, and are as follows:

20 cycles:

94C 30s

68C 30s

72C 3m

Results:

Gel Layout:

Lane 1 – Hyperladder 1

Lanes 2-6 = 5′ RACE Library

Lane 2 – nGSP1 (5′ RACE primer)

Lane 3 – nGSP2 (3′ RACE primer)

Lane 4 – Neg. Control (no RACE primers)

Lane 5 – Neg. Control (nGSP1, no Universal primer)

Lane 6 – Neg. Control (nGSP2, no Universal primer)

Lane 7 – Empty

Lanes 8-12 = 3′ RACE Library

Lane 8 – nGSP1 (5′ RACE primer)

Lane 9 – nGSP2 (3′ RACE primer)

Lane 10 – Neg. Control (no RACE primers)

Lane 11 – Neg. Control (nGSP1, no Universal primer)

Lane 12 – Neg. Control (nGSP2, no Universal primer)

First of all, we see the appropriate response of each primer only producing amplicons in their respective libraries (i.e. 5′ primer only works in 5′ RACE library). This simply confirms that the primers were designed correctly. Secondly, our negative controls are clean. Thirdly, we get distinct bands from both primers. The bands marked with blue arrows in the image above were excised and purified using Ultrafree DA spin columns (Millipore). These products will be used for cloning and eventual sequencing.