Preparation of Frozen Non-Human Primate Fetal Islets for Combined Single Nuclei RNA-Sequencing and ATAC-Sequencing, and Bulk Metabolomics

Summary

This protocol describes procedures to isolate high-quality nuclei from frozen non-human primate pancreatic islets for use in single-nucleus simultaneous RNA sequencing and ATAC sequencing while preserving the bulk cytosolic fraction for metabolomic analyses from the same samples.

Abstract

One challenge in studies using tissue collected from multiple cohorts is avoiding batch effects when preparing for large-scale multi-omic experiments, such as combined single-cell RNA sequencing and metabolomics. The method in the current study utilizes flash-frozen pancreatic islets from fetal non-human primates collected over a span of two years for input into single-nucleus RNA sequencing and ATAC sequencing assays. The cytosolic fraction generated during nuclear extraction was retained for downstream capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry and subsequent metabolite quantification. This method allows for bulk analysis of metabolites that contribute to the changing transcriptomic and epigenomic landscapes within experimental conditions. It is applicable to many tissue types and maximizes the amount of information that can be extracted from samples that are not readily available. As the contribution of metabolism to the establishment of cellular identity via epigenetic modifications becomes more appreciated, techniques that allow for identifying the contribution of metabolites in specific cell types are timely and necessary.

Introduction

The pancreatic islets of Langerhans are critical for the management of glucose tolerance throughout the lifespan. Failure to properly tune blood glucose levels via the glucose-lowering hormone, insulin, or the glucose-raising hormone, glucagon results in Diabetes Mellitus¹. Modifiable risk factors to minimize diabetes risk include exercise and diet. In addition, it is becoming clear that maternal diet during pregnancy also has an effect on offspring susceptibility to diabetes in adulthood^2,3. Thus, methods are needed to analyze the effects of maternal diet and other exposures, ....

Protocol

Islet retrieval was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) and Oregon Health and Science University and was approved by the ONPRC IACUC. The ONPRC abides by the Animal Welfare Act and Regulations enforced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory. The protocol herein was applied to islets from fetal Rhesus macaques that.......

Discussion

Historically, the methods of nuclear isolation for single nucleus RNA- and ATAC-sequencing have utilized buffers containing detergents that are incompatible with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), a common technique used for metabolite quantification^16,17. The current protocol allows for the combination of transcriptomic and metabolomic techniques from the same sample preparation by using a gentle detergent for cellular fractionation, and following .......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
33 G rat brain cannula injector	Protech International	8IC315IS5SPC	For duct cannulation and pancreas inflation
Penicillin/Streptomycin	Fisher	15-140-122	For RT media
FBS	Millipore/Sigma	F4135-500ML	For RT media
RPMI 1640	Thermo Fisher Scientific	11-875-135	For RT media
Collagenase P	Sigma Aldrich	11213865001	For digestion of pancreas
Bovine Dnase I	Sigma Aldrich	11284932001	For RT media and isolation
Dextrose	Fisher	D16-1	Final concentration will be 2.8 mM
Calcium Chloride	Fisher	C4901-500G	Final concentration will be 0.5 mM
HEPES	Gibco	15630-080	Final concentration will be 10 mM
Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) Fraction 5	Research Products International	A30075100	Final concentration will be 0.5 mg/mL
Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium	Gibco	11966025	For handpicking islets
20x Nuclei Buffer	10X Genomics	2000153/2000207
Digitonin (5%)	Thermo Fisher Scientific	BN2006	Digitonin may need to be warmed to 65 °C to dissolve white precipitate
MACS SmartStrainers (30 µM)	Miltenyi Biotec	130-098-458
MACS BSA Stock Solution (10%)	Miltenyi Biotec	130-091-376
IGEPAL CA-630	Sigma Aldrich	i8896	Prepare a 10% stock using MilliQ water
Trizma Hydrochloride Solution, pH 7.5	Sigma Aldrich	T2319-1L
Sodium Chloride Solution, 5 M	Sigma Aldrich	S6546-1L
Magnesium Chloride Solution, 1 M	Sigma Aldrich	M1028-100mL
Sigma Protector Rnase inhibitor	Sigma Aldrich	3335402001
DTT	Research Products International	D11000-5.0
Rnase-Free Disposable Pellet Pestles	Fisher Scientific	12-141-368
Tween 20	Fisher Bioreagents	BP337-500	Prepare a 20% stock using MilliQ water
Nuclease-Free Water	Promega	PR-P1193
DNA LoBind Tubes (5 mL)	Eppendorf	30108310
Cryovials (1.5 mL)	VWR	20170-225
Posi-Click Tubes (0.6 mL)	Denville	C-2177
Trypan Blue (0.4%)	Thermo Fisher Scientific	T-10282
Dual-Chamber Cell Counting Slides	Bio-Rad	1450011
MiiliQ Ultrapure Water System	Millipore/Sigma	7003/05/10/15
5 kDa cut-off filter	HMT Metabolome Technologies
Internal Standards	HMT Metabolome Technologies
P10, P20, P200, and P1000 Pipettes	Eppendorf	2231000602
Pipette Tips, 10 µL	VWR	76322-528
Pipette Tips, 1000 µL	Thermo Fisher Scientific	21-236-2A
Pipette Tips, 20 µL	Genesee Scientific	23-404
Pipette Tips, 200 µL	USA Scientific	1120-8810
Phase Contrast Microscope	Olympus	BX41-PH-B
Countess II Automated Cell Counter	Thermo Fisher Scientific	AMQAX1000
DPBS (1x)	Gibco	14190-144
Allegra X-30R Centrifuge	Beckman-Coulter	B06315
RNase-ZAP	Sigma Aldrich	R2020