Name: use of alu element containing minigenes to analyze circular rnas
Uploaded: 2020-03-10T12:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Use of Alu Element Containing Minigenes to Analyze Circular RNAs at JoVE.com

This work was supported by the Department of Defense DoD grant AZ180075. Stefan Stamm thanks Jacqueline Noonan Endowment. Anna Pawluchin was supported by the DAAD, German academic exchange program, Justin R. Welden was a recipient of the University of Kentucky Max Steckler Award.

1. Design of the constructs
<ol>
	<li>Use the UCSC genome browser24 to identify repetitive elements necessary for circular RNA formation and incorporate them in the constructs. Importantly, primers for amplification need to be outside the repetitive elements.</li>
	<li>Paste the circular RNA sequence (Supplemental Figure 1 is a test sequence) into <a href="https://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgBlat?command=start" target="_blank">https://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgBlat?command=start</...

<ol>
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B., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Natural+RNA+circles+function+as+efficient+microRNA+sponges.">Natural RNA circles function as efficient microRNA sponges.</a> Nature. 495 (7441), 384-388 (2013).</li><li>Kelly, S., Greenman, C., Cook, P. R., Papantonis, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Exon+Skipping+Is+Correlated+with+Exon+Circularization.">Exon Skipping Is Correlated with Exon Circularization.</a> Journal of Molecular Biology. 427 (15), 2414-2417 (2015).</li><li>Li, Z., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Exon-intron+circular+RNAs+regulate+transcription+in+the+nucleus.">Exon-intron circular RNAs regulate transcription in the nucleus.</a> Nature Structural &amp; Molecular Biology. 22 (3), 256-264 (2015).</li><li>Yang, Y., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Extensive+translation+of+circular+RNAs+driven+by+N(6)-methyladenosine.">Extensive translation of circular RNAs driven by N(6)-methyladenosine.</a> Cell Research. 27 (6), 626-641 (2017).</li><li>Abe, N., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Rolling+Circle+Translation+of+Circular+RNA+in+Living+Human+Cells.">Rolling Circle Translation of Circular RNA in Living Human Cells.</a> Scientific Reports. 5, 16435 (2015).</li><li>Salzman, J., Chen, R. 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In general, circular RNAs are low abundant1, which complicates the study of their function and formation. Similar to linear RNAs13, the use of reporter minigenes allows the identification of cis and trans-acting factors that regulate the formation of circular RNAs. Thus, this approach generates hypotheses that can be further tested using the endogenous genes.
The most critical step is the design of the reporter gene. The enzymatic assembly of DNA...

Circular RNAs 
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed single stranded RNAs that are expressed in most organisms. They are generated by joining a downstream 5&#39; splice site to an upstream 3&#39; splice site, a process called back-splicing (Figure 1A)1. Sequences in the pre-mRNA that exhibit base complementary as short as 30-40 nt bring back-splice sites into proper alignment for circRNA formation2. In humans, Alu elements1, representing about 11% of the genome3, form extensive double stranded RNA structures in pre-mRNA due to their self-complementarity4,5 and thus promote the formation of circRNAs1.
Currently, three major functions of circRNAs have been described. Some circRNAs bind microRNAs (miRNAs) and through sequestration act like miRNA sponges6. CircRNAs have been implicated in transcriptional and post transcriptional regulation, through competition with linear splicing7 or modulation of transcription factor activity8. Finally, circRNAs contain short open reading frames and proof of principle studies show that they can be translated9,10. However, the function of most circRNAs remains enigmatic. The majority of circular RNAs have been detected using next-generation sequencing methods11. Detailed analyses of individual genes using targeted RT-PCR approaches reveal that a large number of circular RNAs remains to be discovered12.
Use of reporter genes to analyze pre-mRNA processing 
The analysis of mRNA derived from DNA reporter constructs transfected into cells is a well-established method to study alternative pre-mRNA splicing, which can be applied to circular RNAs. In general, the alternative exon, its surrounding introns, and constitutive exons are amplified and cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector. Frequently, the introns are shortened. The constructs are transfected into eukaryotic cells and usually analyzed by RT-PCR13,14. This approach has been extensively used to map regulatory splice sites and trans-acting factors in co-transfection experiments13,15,16,17,18. In addition, the generation of protein-expressing minigenes allowed for screening of substances that change alternative splicing19,20.
The method has been applied to circular RNAs. Currently, at least 12 minigene backbones have been described in the literature and are summarized in Table 1. With the exception of the tRNA based expression system21,22, they are all dependent on polymerase II promoters. Here, we describe a method to generate human reporter minigenes to determine cis and trans-acting factors involved in the generation of circular RNAs. An overview of the method using sequences of a published reporter gene23 is shown in Figure 1.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>(PEI) Hydrochloride</td>
			<td>Polysciences</td>
			<td>24765-1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Builder tool</td>
			<td>NEB</td>
			<td></td>
			<td><a href="https://nebuilder.neb.com/#!/" target="_blank">https://nebuilder.neb.com/#!/</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dark Reader Transilluminator.</td>
			<td>Clare Chemical Research</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Enzymatic DNA assembly kit</td>
			<td>NEB</td>
			<td>E2621S</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Gel and PCR cleanup kit</td>
			<td>Promega</td>
			<td>A9282</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glyco Blue</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher</td>
			<td>AM9516</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>pcDNA3.1 cloning site</td>
			<td>Polycloning site</td>
			<td></td>
			<td><a href="https://assets.thermofisher.com/TFS-Assets/LSG/manuals/pcdna3_1_man.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.thermofisher.com/TFS-Assets/LSG/manuals/pcdna3_1_man.pdf</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Polymerase 1</td>
			<td>NEB</td>
			<td>M0491L</td>
			<td>Q5 DNA polymerase</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Polymerase 2</td>
			<td>Biorad</td>
			<td>1725310</td>
			<td>Long range polymerase (NEB), iproof (BioRad)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Polymerase 2</td>
			<td>Qiagen</td>
			<td>206402</td>
			<td>Qiagen long range polymerase kit</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Reverse Transcriptase</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher</td>
			<td>18080044</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RNA isolation kit</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>12183025</td>
			<td>Ambion by Life Technologies</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RNAse R</td>
			<td>Lucigen</td>
			<td>RNR07250</td>
			<td>Epicenter/Lucigen</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Stable competent cells</td>
			<td>NEB</td>
			<td>C3040H</td>
			<td>NEB stable cells</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Standard cloning bacteria</td>
			<td>NEB</td>
			<td>C2988J</td>
			<td>NEB5-alpha competent</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Web tool to design primers</td>
			<td>NEB</td>
			<td></td>
			<td><a href="https://nebuilder.neb.com/#!/" target="_blank">https://nebuilder.neb.com/#!/</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Web-based temperature calculations</td>
			<td>NEB</td>
			<td></td>
			<td><a href="https://tmcalculator.neb.com/#!/main" target="_blank">https://tmcalculator.neb.com/#!/main</a></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

use of alu element containing minigenes to analyze circular rnas

In addition to linear mRNAs, many eukaryotic genes generate circular RNAs. Most circular RNAs are generated by joining a 5&#39; splice site with an upstream 3&#39; splice site within a pre-mRNA, a process called back-splicing. This circularization is likely aided by secondary structures in the pre-mRNA that bring the splice sites into close proximity. In human genes, Alu elements are thought to promote these secondary RNA structures, as Alu elements are abundant and exhibit base complementarities with each other when present in opposite directions in the pre-mRNA. Here, we describe the generation and analysis of large, Alu element containing reporter genes that form circular RNAs. Through optimization of cloning protocols, reporter genes with up to 20 kb insert length can be generated. Their analysis in co-transfection experiments allows the identification of regulatory factors. Thus, this method can identify RNA sequences and cellular components involved in circular RNA formation.

Reporter genes allow determination of regulatory factors that influence circular RNA formation. However, these reporter genes are large and contain repetitive elements that often make DNA constructs unstable. Due to their large size, it is often necessary to delete parts of the introns, which is achieved by amplifying genomic pieces containing the exons and smaller flanking intronic parts. These DNA pieces are enzymatically assembled, allowing construction without restriction enzymes.
The exam...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Use of Alu Element Containing Minigenes to Analyze Circular RNAs at JoVE.com

Use of Alu Element Containing Minigenes to Analyze Circular RNAs

We clone and analyze reporter genes generating circular RNAs. These reporter genes are larger than constructs to analyze linear splicing and contain Alu elements. To investigate the circular RNAs, the constructs are transfected into cells and resulting RNA is analyzed using RT-PCR after removal of linear RNA.

Use of Alu Element Containing Minigenes to Analyze Circular RNAs

In addition to linear mRNAs, many eukaryotic genes generate circular RNAs. Most circular RNAs are generated by joining a 5&#39; splice site with an ...

This protocol is significant because it allows the user to generate a genomic expression system that can undergo alternative splicing and in this case form circular RNAs that can be tested for their function and disease association. The main advantage of this technique is that it will pave the way for others to use this protocol in molecular biology and cloning when studying alternative splicing in circular RNA formation and function. My advice to someone trying this technique for the first time would be to optimize the PCR conditions.Run gradients or perform touchdown PCR with different annealing temperatures and extension times. Usually longer fragments over six KB will extend one KB per cycle and different annealing temperatures would need to be tested for the best amplification. Demonstration of this method is critical because it will give the users a better visual representation of the more difficult aspects of the procedure especially the generation of primers.To begin this procedure, load the UCSC Genome Browser and use it to identify repetitive elements necessary for circular RNA formation and incorporate them into the constructs. Importantly, primers for amplification need to be outside the repetitive elements. Paste the circular RNA sequence into the human BLAT search and select the right organism.Submit the sequence, go to browser view, and zoom out 1.5 timers or as appropriate. Next, mouse over the repetitive elements to identify their subtype in a floating window. Alu elements are in the sine line.Use the default tracks button under the window to reset the browser if an incorrect image is obtained. First go to view, DNA on the top line of the USCS Genome Browser to download the DNA sequence shown in the window. In the sequencing formatting option, select extended case/color options.Select the default case as lower and select toggle case for NCBI RefSeq. Select underline and bold and Italic for RepeatMasker. Click submit.There will be exons as capital letters and introns as lowercase letters. Check the exon/intron borders. If the browser shows the reverse complement, go back and select the reverse complement box until the correct exon/intron borders are show.Next, copy the file with the correct orientation into a word processing document and highlight the exons. Select the fragments to be amplified making sure that the intron does not begin or end in a repetitive region as primers in these regions will not amplify specific sequences. To begin, use a web tool to design the primers for cloning.For the vector sequence, add the insertion site as the last nucleotide and subsequently add the fragments. Since the vector numbering does not start with a given insertion site, the site of insertion in the vector is located and the downstream part is put in in front of the upstream sequence. Adjust primers if their melting points are more than four degrees Celsius apart and do not work in amplification.In this study, reporter genes that generate circular RNAs are cloned and analyzed. Optimized PCR products are separated on a 1%agarose gel containing 1X gel green. The individual bands represent the PCR products that will be used in enzymatic DNA assembly.These bands are then cut out from the gel and purified. The purified PCR product does not run true to the expected size with gel green so the products are also separated on a 1%agarose gel that is subsequently stained with ethidium bromide to ensure the products are the correct size. To begin, set out an enzymatic DNA assembly kit.Combine the vector and inserts in a molar ratio of one to two. Next, add 10 microliters of DNA assembly master mix. Incubate samples for 60 minutes at 50 degrees.Thaw competent cells on ice during incubation. Cells should be in a volume of 50 microliters. Next, transform competent cells with the total assembly reaction.Add two microliters of the chilled assembled product to the competent cells. Mix by gently flicking the tube four to five times. Do not vortex.Place the mixture on ice for 30 minutes. Heat shock the mixture at 42 degrees Celsius for 30 seconds. Then place it back on ice for two minutes.After this, add 950 microliters of room temperature SOC media to the tube. Incubate at 37 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes while shaking at 300 RPM. During this incubation, warm two selection plates that contain the appropriate antibiotic.Following the incubation, centrifuge the reaction tube at 10, 000 g for 30 seconds to pellet the cells and plate out 25%of the cells on one selection plate and 75%on the other. Incubate these plates overnight at 37 degrees Celsius. Before you begin transfection, check your DNA by restriction digest.Here, a representative tau minigene that contains exons nine through 12 is cut with restriction enzymes indicated to rule out major recombinations. For transfection, first dissolve linear polyethylene hydrochloride in water at a concentration of one milligram per milliliter at pH two. Use sodium hydroxide to bring the pH up to seven and sterile filter the solution with a 0.22 micrometer filter.Store the solution at four degrees Celsius until ready to use. Then split the cells into the wells of a six-well plate and let them grow overnight at DMEM media containing 10%FBS. The next day, aliquot one microgram of the reported gene in a sterile tube and add 200 microliters of sterile filtered 150 millimolar sodium chloride.Mix by vortexing. Next, add the polyethylenimine solution to this mixture at a ratio of three microliters of polyethylenimine for each one microgram of DNA. Centrifuge briefly to collect samples at the bottom of the tube.Incubate the samples at room temperature for 10 minutes. Then add it directly to HEK293 cells. Incubate the cells overnight at 37 degrees Celsius with 5%carbon dioxide.The next day, use an RNA isolation kit to isolate the RNA for RT-PCR. cDNA from two samples derived from human brain tissues are amplified with circular RNA primers circ tau exon 1210 reverse and circ tau exon 1211 forward. While the expected band corresponding to tau circular RNA is seen, the other strong bands are artifacts that did not match the human genome.This experiment is repeated with identical PCR conditions, but the reverse transcription was performed only with the circ tau exon 1210 reverse primer. Only the expected band is amplified and validated through sequencing. The RNA is then treated with RNase R that removes linear RNA.The circular RNA is detectable after the treatment whereas linear RNA gives no longer a detectable signal. RNA is isolated 24 hours post-transfection and analyzed by RT-PCR. Amplification of the linear tau mRNA shows two bands due to alternative splicing of exon 10.Their ratio changes to the over expression of splicing factors. Amplification of the circular 1210 tau RNA shows the dependency of tau circ RNA expression on the expression of some splicing factors especially the Cdc2-like kinase CLK2 and the SR protein 9G8. The most important thing to remember when attempting this procedure is the design and location of the primers when constructing a minigene.The primer should not lie in repetitive elements and will need to be optimized under different conditions depending on the fragment being amplified. Following this procedure, other methods that can be performed will be testing the function of the circular RNAs. The users can test translation or sequestration of proteins to identify a function for the specific circular RNA the user is interested in.This technique paved the way to utilize genomic fragments in a minigene system that can over express the circular RNAs allowing the user to test and identify their function and in some aspects their association to disease. The implication of this technique extends towards potential therapies and diagnostics of a particular disease, for instance tauopathies, neurodegenerative diseases associated with tau pathology. We have discovered that the microtubule-associated protein tau, known as MAPT, generates circular RNAs which we believe are contributing to the disease pathology and this method allows us to fully study these circular RNAs and identifying their function and relation to disease.This method could provide insight into a better understanding of circular RNAs, what their functions are, and the role they may play in certain diseases. This method can be applied in cloning other minigenes that express circular RNAs across species where it can provide insight into their function. Amplification of the PCR products proves to be the most difficult with long fragments amplified from genomic DNA, along with having multiple repetitive elements within the fragment.

use-of-alu-element-containing-minigenes-to-analyze-circular-rnas

Research

JoVE Journal

Biochemistry

Combining Wet and Dry Lab Techniques to Guide the Crystallization of Large Coiled-coil Containing Proteins

Obtaining crystals for structure determination can be a difficult and time consuming proposition for any protein. Coiled-coil proteins and domains are found throughout nature, however, because of their physical properties and tendency to aggregate, they are traditionally viewed as being especially difficult to crystallize. Here, we utilize a variety of quick and simple techniques designed to identify a series of possible domain boundaries for a given coiled-coil protein, and then quickly characterize the behavior of these proteins in solution. With the addition of a strongly fluorescent tag (mRuby2), protein characterization is simple and straightforward. The target protein can be readily visualized under normal lighting and can be quantified with the use of an appropriate imager. The goal is to quickly identify candidates that can be removed from the crystallization pipeline because they are unlikely to succeed, affording more time for the best candidates and fewer funds expended on proteins that do not produce crystals. This process can be iterated to incorporate information gained from initial screening efforts, can be adapted for high-throughput expression and purification procedures, and is augmented by robotic screening for crystallization.

We describe a framework incorporating straightforward biochemical and computational analysis to guide the characterization and crystallization of large coiled-coil domains. This framework can be adapted for globular proteins or extended to incorporate a variety of high-throughput techniques.

Obtaining crystals for structure determination can be a difficult and time consuming proposition for any protein. Coiled-coil proteins and domains are ...

Method to Visualize and Analyze Membrane Interacting Proteins by Transmission Electron Microscopy

Monotopic proteins exert their function when attached to a membrane surface, and such interactions depend on the specific lipid composition and on the availability of enough area to perform the function. Nanodiscs are used to provide a membrane surface of controlled size and lipid content. In the absence of bound extrinsic proteins, sodium phosphotungstate-stained nanodiscs appear as stacks of coins when viewed from the side by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This protocol is therefore designed to intentionally promote stacking; consequently, the prevention of stacking can be interpreted as the binding of the membrane-binding protein to the nanodisc. In a further step, the TEM images of the protein-nanodisc complexes can be processed with standard single-particle methods to yield low-resolution structures as a basis for higher resolution cryoEM work. Furthermore, the nanodiscs provide samples suitable for either TEM or non-denaturing gel electrophoresis. To illustrate the method, Ca2+-induced binding of 5-lipoxygenase on nanodiscs is presented.

Many proteins perform their function when attached to membrane surfaces. The binding of extrinsic proteins on nanodisc membranes can be indirectly imaged by transmission electron microscopy. We show that the characteristic stacking (rouleau) of nanodiscs induced by the negative stain sodium phosphotungstate is prevented by the binding of extrinsic protein.

Monotopic proteins exert their function when attached to a membrane surface, and such interactions depend on the specific lipid composition and on the ...

Quantification of the Abundance and Charging Levels of Transfer RNAs in Escherichia coli

Transfer RNA (tRNA) is an essential part of the translational machinery in any organism. tRNAs bind and transfer amino acids to the translating ribosome. The relative levels of different tRNAs, and the ratio of aminoacylated tRNA to total tRNA, known as the charging level, are important factors in determining the accuracy and speed of translation. Therefore, the abundance and charging levels of tRNAs are important variables to measure when studying protein synthesis, for example under various stress conditions. Here, we describe a method for harvesting tRNA and directly measuring both the relative abundance and the absolute charging level of specific tRNA species in Escherichia coli. The tRNA is harvested in such a way that the labile bond between the tRNA and its amino acid is preserved. The RNA is then subjected to gel electrophoresis and Northern blotting, which results in separation of the charged and uncharged tRNAs. The levels of specific tRNAs in different samples can be compared due to the addition of spike-in cells for normalization. Prior to RNA purification, we add 5% of E. coli cells that overproduce the rare tRNAselC to each sample. The amount of the tRNA species of interest in a sample is then normalized to the amount of tRNAselC in the same sample. Addition of spike-in cells prior to RNA purification has the advantage over addition of purified spike-in RNAs that it also accounts for any differences in cell lysis efficiency between samples.

Quantification of the Abundance and Charging Levels of Transfer RNAs in Escherichia coli

Here we present a method for directly measuring transfer RNA charging levels from purified Escherichia coli RNA as well as a way to compare relative levels of transfer RNA, or any other short RNA, across different samples based on the addition of spike-in cells expressing a reference gene.

Transfer RNA (tRNA) is an essential part of the translational machinery in any organism. tRNAs bind and transfer amino acids to the translating ribosome. ...

Simultaneous Measurement of Superoxide/Hydrogen Peroxide and NADH Production by Flavin-containing Mitochondrial Dehydrogenases

It has been reported that mitochondria can contain up to 12 enzymatic sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS). A majority of these sites include flavin-dependent respiratory complexes and dehydrogenases that produce a mixture of superoxide (O2&#9679;-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Accurate quantification of the ROS-producing potential of individual sites in isolated mitochondria can be challenging due to the presence of antioxidant defense systems&#160;and side reactions that also form O2&#9679;-/H2O2. Use&#160;of nonspecific inhibitors that can disrupt mitochondrial bioenergetics can also compromise measurements by altering&#160;ROS release from other sites of production. Here, we present an easy method for the simultaneous measurement of H2O2 release and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) production by purified flavin-linked dehydrogenases. For our purposes here, we have used purified pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHC) and &#945;-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (KGDHC) of porcine heart origin as examples. This method allows for an accurate measure of native H2O2 release rates by individual sites of production by eliminating other potential sources of ROS and antioxidant systems. In addition, this method allows for a direct comparison of the relationship between H2O2 release and enzyme activity and the screening of the effectiveness and selectivity of inhibitors for ROS production. Overall, this approach can allow for the in-depth assessment of native rates of ROS release for individual enzymes prior to conducting more sophisticated experiments with isolated mitochondria or permeabilized muscle fiber.

Mitochondria contain several flavin-dependent enzymes that can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). Monitoring ROS release from individual sites in mitochondria is challenging due to unwanted side reactions. We present an easy, inexpensive method for direct assessment of native rates for ROS release using purified flavoenzymes and microplate fluorometry.

It has been reported that mitochondria can contain up to 12 enzymatic sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS). A majority of these sites include ...

Use of Two Dimensional Semi-denaturing Detergent Agarose Gel Electrophoresis to Confirm Size Heterogeneity of Amyloid or Amyloid-like Fibers

Amyloid or amyloid-like fibers have been associated with many human diseases, and are now being discovered to be important for many signaling pathways. The ability to readily detect the formation of these fibers under various experimental conditions is essential for understanding their potential function. Many methods have been used to detect the fibers, but not without some drawbacks. For example, electron microscopy (EM), or staining with Congo Red or Thioflavin T often requires purification of the fibers. On the other hand, semi-denaturing detergent agarose gel electrophoresis (SDD-AGE) allows detection of the SDS-resistant amyloid-like fibers in the cell extracts without purification. In addition, it allows the comparison of the size difference of the fibers. More importantly, it can be used to identify specific proteins within the fibers by Western blotting. It is less time consuming and more easily accessible to a wider number of labs. SDD-AGE results often show variable degree of heterogeneity. It raises the question whether part of the heterogeneity results from the dissociation of the protein complex during the electrophoresis in the presence of SDS. For this reason, we have employed a second dimension of SDD-AGE to determine if the size heterogeneity seen in SDD-AGE is truly a result of fiber heterogeneity in vivo and not a result of either degradation or dissociation of some of the proteins during electrophoresis. This method allows fast, qualitative confirmation that the amyloid or amyloid-like fibers are not partially dissociating during the SDD-AGE process.

Here we use two-dimensional semi-denaturing agarose gel electrophoresis to confirm the presence of amyloid-like fibers of heterogeneous size and exclude the possibility that the size heterogeneity is due to dissociation of the amyloid fibers during the gel running process.

Amyloid or amyloid-like fibers have been associated with many human diseases, and are now being discovered to be important for many signaling pathways. ...

Large-scale Production of Recombinant RNAs on a Circular Scaffold Using a Viroid-derived System in Escherichia coli

With increasing interest in RNA biology and the use of RNA molecules in sophisticated biotechnological applications, the methods to produce large amounts of recombinant RNAs are limited. Here, we describe a protocol to produce large amounts of recombinant RNA in Escherichia coli based on co-expression of a chimeric molecule that contains the RNA of interest in a viroid scaffold and a plant tRNA ligase. Viroids are relatively small, non-coding, highly base-paired circular RNAs that are infectious to higher plants. The host plant tRNA ligase is an enzyme recruited by viroids that belong to the family Avsunviroidae, such as Eggplant latent viroid (ELVd), to mediate RNA circularization during viroid replication. Although ELVd does not replicate in E. coli, an ELVd precursor is efficiently transcribed by the E. coli RNA polymerase and processed by the embedded hammerhead ribozymes in bacterial cells, and the resulting monomers are circularized by the co-expressed tRNA ligase reaching a remarkable concentration. The insertion of an RNA of interest into the ELVd scaffold enables the production of tens of milligrams of the recombinant RNA per liter of bacterial culture in regular laboratory conditions. A main fraction of the RNA product is circular, a feature that facilitates the purification of the recombinant RNA to virtual homogeneity. In this protocol, a complementary DNA (cDNA) corresponding to the RNA of interest is inserted in a particular position of the ELVd cDNA in an expression plasmid that is used, along the plasmid to co-express eggplant tRNA ligase, to transform E. coli. Co-expression of both molecules under the control of strong constitutive promoters leads to production of large amounts of the recombinant RNA. The recombinant RNA can be extracted from the bacterial cells and separated from the bulk of bacterial RNAs taking advantage of its circularity.

Large-scale Production of Recombinant RNAs on a Circular Scaffold Using a Viroid-derived System in Escherichia coli

Here, we present a protocol to produce large amounts of recombinant RNA in Escherichia coli by co-expressing a chimeric RNA that contains the RNA of interest in a viroid scaffold and a plant tRNA ligase. The main product is a circular molecule that facilitates purification to homogeneity.

With increasing interest in RNA biology and the use of RNA molecules in sophisticated biotechnological applications, the methods to produce large amounts ...

Expression, Purification, Crystallization, and Enzyme Assays of Fumarylacetoacetate Hydrolase Domain-Containing Proteins

Fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH) domain-containing proteins (FAHD) are identified members of the FAH superfamily in eukaryotes. Enzymes of this superfamily generally display multi-functionality, involving mainly hydrolase and decarboxylase mechanisms. This article presents a series of consecutive methods for the expression and purification of FAHD proteins, mainly FAHD protein 1 (FAHD1) orthologues among species (human, mouse, nematodes, plants, etc.). Covered methods are protein expression in E. coli, affinity chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, preparative and analytical gel filtration, crystallization, X-ray diffraction, and photometric assays. Concentrated protein of high levels of purity (&#62;98%) may be employed for crystallization or antibody production. Proteins of similar or lower quality may be employed in enzyme assays or used as antigens in detection systems (Western-Blot, ELISA). In the discussion of this work, the identified enzymatic mechanisms of FAHD1 are outlined to describe its hydrolase and decarboxylase bi-functionality in more detail.

Expression and purification of fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase domain-containing proteins is described with examples (expression in E. coli, FPLC). Purified proteins are used for crystallization and antibody production and employed for enzyme assays. Selected photometric assays are presented to display the multi-functionality of FAHD1 as oxaloacetate decarboxylase and acylpyruvate hydrolase.

Fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH) domain-containing proteins (FAHD) are identified members of the FAH superfamily in eukaryotes. Enzymes of this ...

Use of Microscale Thermophoresis to Measure Protein-Lipid Interactions

The ability to determine the binding affinity of lipids to proteins is an essential part of understanding protein-lipid interactions in membrane trafficking, signal transduction and cytoskeletal remodeling. Classic tools for measuring such interactions include surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). While powerful tools, these approaches have setbacks. ITC requires large amounts of purified protein as well as lipids, which can be costly and difficult to produce. Furthermore, ITC as well as SPR are very time consuming, which could add significantly to the cost of performing these experiments. One way to bypass these restrictions is to use the relatively new technique of microscale thermophoresis (MST). MST is fast and cost effective using small amounts of sample to obtain a saturation curve for a given binding event. There currently are two types of MST systems available. One type of MST requires labeling with a fluorophore in the blue or red spectrum. The second system relies on the intrinsic fluorescence of aromatic amino acids in the UV range. Both systems detect the movement of molecules in response to localized induction of heat from an infrared laser. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. Label-free MST can use untagged native proteins; however, many analytes, including pharmaceuticals, fluoresce in the UV range, which can interfere with determination of accurate KD values. In comparison, labeled MST allows for a greater diversity of measurable pairwise interactions utilizing fluorescently labeled probes attached to ligands with measurable absorbances in the visible range as opposed to UV, limiting the potential for interfering signals from analytes.

Microscale thermophoresis obtains binding constants quickly at low material cost. Either labeled or label free microscale thermophoresis is commercially available; however, label free thermophoresis is not capable of the diversity of interaction measurements that can be performed using fluorescent labels. We provide a protocol for labeled thermophoresis measurements.

The ability to determine the binding affinity of lipids to proteins is an essential part of understanding protein-lipid interactions in membrane ...

Ready-To-Use qPCR for Detection of DNA from Trypanosoma cruzi or Other Pathogenic Organisms

Real-time PCR (qPCR) is a remarkably sensitive and precise technique&#160;that allows for amplifying&#160;minute amounts of nucleic acid targets from a multitude of samples. It has been extensively used in many research areas and achieved industrial application in fields such as human diagnostics and trait selection in crops of genetically modified organisms (GMO) crops. However, qPCR is not an error-proof technique. Mixing all reagents into a single master mix subsequently distributed onto 96 wells of a regular qPCR plate might lead to operator mistakes such as incorrect mixing of reagents or inaccurate dispensing into the wells. Here, a technique called gelification is presented, whereby most of the water present in the master mix is substituted by reagents that form a sol-gel mixture when submitted to a vacuum. As a result, qPCR reagents are effectively preserved for a few weeks at room temperature or a few months at 2-8 oC. Details of preparing each solution are shown here along with the expected aspect of a gelified reaction designed to detect&#160;T. cruzi satellite DNA (satDNA). A similar procedure can be applied to detect other organisms. Starting a gelified qPCR run is as simple as removing the plate from the refrigerator, adding the samples to their respective wells, and starting the run, thus decreasing the setup time of a full-plate reaction to the time it takes to load the samples. Additionally, gelified PCR reactions can be produced and controlled for quality in batches, saving time and avoiding common operator mistakes while running routine PCR reactions.

Ready-To-Use qPCR for Detection of DNA from Trypanosoma cruzi or Other Pathogenic Organisms

The present work describes the steps for producing ready-to-use qPCR for T. cruzi DNA detection that can be pre-loaded on the reaction vessel and stored in the refrigerator for several months.

Real-time PCR (qPCR) is a remarkably sensitive and precise technique&#160;that allows for amplifying&#160;minute amounts of nucleic acid targets from a ...

Formulation and Characterization of Bioactive Agent Containing Nanodisks

The term nanodisk refers to a discrete type of nanoparticle comprised of a bilayer forming lipid, a scaffold protein, and an integrated bioactive agent. Nanodisks are organized as a disk-shaped lipid bilayer whose perimeter is circumscribed by the scaffold protein, usually a member of the exchangeable apolipoprotein family. Numerous hydrophobic bioactive agents have been efficiently solubilized in nanodisks by their integration into the hydrophobic milieu of the particle&#39;s lipid bilayer, yielding a largely homogenous population of particles in the range of 10-20 nm in diameter. The formulation of nanodisks requires a precise ratio of individual components, an appropriate sequential addition of each component, followed by bath sonication of the formulation mixture. The amphipathic scaffold protein spontaneously contacts and reorganizes the dispersed bilayer forming lipid/bioactive agent mixture to form a discrete, homogeneous population of nanodisk&#160;particles. During this process, the reaction mixture transitions from an opaque, turbid appearance to a clarified sample that, when fully optimized, yields no precipitate upon centrifugation. Characterization studies involve the determination of bioactive agent solubilization efficiency, electron microscopy, gel filtration chromatography, ultraviolet visible (UV/Vis) absorbance spectroscopy, and/or fluorescence spectroscopy. This is normally followed by an investigation of biological activity using cultured cells or mice. In the case of nanodisks harboring an antibiotic (i.e., the macrolide polyene antibiotic amphotericin B), their ability to inhibit the growth of yeast or fungi as a function of concentration or time can be measured. The relative ease of formulation, versatility with respect to component parts, nanoscale particle size, inherent stability, and aqueous solubility permits myriad in vitro and in vivo applications of nanodisk technology. In the present article, we describe a general methodology to formulate and characterize nanodisks containing amphotericin&#160;B as the hydrophobic bioactive agent.

Here, we describe the production and characterization of bioactive agents containing nanodisks. Amphotericin B nanodisks are taken as an example to describe the protocol in a stepwise manner.

The term nanodisk refers to a discrete type of nanoparticle comprised of a bilayer forming lipid, a scaffold protein, and an integrated bioactive agent. ...