In situ Hybridization for Sipunculus nudus Coelomic Fluid

Summary

This protocol describes an effective in situ hybridization approach to detect the mRNA expression levels and spatial patterns of target genes in Sipunculus nudus coelomic fluid.

Abstract

In situ hybridization (ISH) is a very informative technique to present cellular distribution patterns of specific genes (e.g., mRNA and ncRNA) in tissues. The sipunculid worm Sipunculus nudus is a crucial fishery resource as it has high nutritional and medicinal values. Currently, the research on the molecular biology of Sipunculus nudus is still in its infancy. The purpose of this article is to develop a sensitive method for localizing specific mRNA in Sipunculus nudus coelomic fluid. The protocol includes detailed steps of ISH, including digoxigenin-labeled antisense and sense riboprobe preparation, coelomic fluid collection and section preparation, specific riboprobe hybridization, antibody incubation, coloration and post-coloration treatments. The representative results obtained from a successful experiment using this method are demonstrated. The protocol should be applicable to other Sipuncula species as well.

Introduction

ISH, using a labeled nucleic acid probe to detect the specific DNA or RNA sequence of interest, is a useful method to describe the spatial expression pattern of target genes in morphologically preserved tissues^1,2,3. Normally, the target sequence is generated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and then used as the template to synthesize the antisense/sense RNA probe labeled with digoxigenin uridine-5’-triphosphate. Samples are fixed and permeabilized before incubation with riboprobe. After washing off the excess probe, hybridization is visualized by immunohistochemistr....

Protocol

The animal procedure was approved by the Animal Care and Welfare Committee of Huaqiao University.

1. Riboprobe preparation

1. Primer design
   1. Open the program Primer 3 (http://bioinfo.ut.ee/primer3-0.4.0/primer3/). Copy the dmrt1 sequence (GenBank: MK182259) into the sequence window.
   2. Set primer length (23-25 bp), melting temperature (55-60 °C), and G/C content (40-60%). Click Pick Primers.
      NOTE: The minimal size required for .......

Discussion

Previous studies showed that ISH is suitable for detecting multiple target RNAs^16,17,18. In this protocol, we described a high-resolution ISH method to detect the mRNA in coelomic fluid and emphasize the optimized hybridization conditions in Sipunculus nudus. The obvious signals of dmrt1 we observed demonstrated the successful application of this protocol in the detection of gene expression (

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Agarose	Biowest	111860
Anti-digoxigenin-AP Fab fragments	Roche	11093274910
BCIP/NBT alkaline phosphatase color development kit	Beyotime	C3206
Bovine Serum Albumin	Sigma	B2064
Centrifuge	Eppendorf	5415R
Citric acid	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	5949-29-1
Citric acid trisodium	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	4/3/6132
Coverslips	Beyotime	FCGF60
Deionized formamide	Amresco	12/7/1975
Diethyl pyrocarbonate, DEPC	Sigma	D5758	Noxious substance
Digoxigenin (DIG) RNA Labeling Mix	Roche	11277073910
DNase I, RNase-free	Invitrogen	18047019
EDTA	Sigma	431788
Electrophoresis gel imaging	Bio-Rad	Universal Hood III
Ethanol	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	64-17-5
Gel extraction kits	Omega	D2500
Gel-electrophoresis apparatus	Beijing Liuyi Instrument Factory	DYY-6C
Glycerol	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	56-81-5
Glycine	Sigma	G5417
Heparin	Sigma	8/1/9041
KCl	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	7447-40-7
KH2PO4	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	7778-77-0
LiCl	Sigma	203637
Maleic acid	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	110-16-7
Methanol	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	67-56-1	Noxious substance
MgCl2	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	7786-30-3
Na2HPO4	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	7558-79-4
NaCl	Biofount	JT0001
NaOH	Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.	1310-73-2	Corrosive
Paraffin film	Bemis Company, Inc.	PM-996
Paraformaldehyde, PFA	Sigma	158127	Noxious substance
PCR Instrument	Life Technology	Proflex
Pins	Deli	16
Pipette	Eppendorf	plus G
Poly-D-lysine treated microscope slides	Liusheng	VER_A01
Proteinase K	Sigma	SRE0005
RNase free water	HyClone	SH30538. 02
RNase inhibitor	Roche	3335399001
S. nudus
Sheep serum	Beyotime	C0265
Slide staining jar	Beyotime	FG010
Slide storage box	Beyotime	FBX011
Small autoclaved scissors	Shuanglu	sku_8330
Spectrophotometers	Thermo Fisher	NanoDrop 2000/2000c
T7 RNA polymerases	Roche	10881767001
Taq DNA polymerase mix (2X)	Thermo Scientific	K1081
Tris HCl	Sigma	RES3098T
tRNA	Roche	10109517001
Tween-20	Sigma	P1379
Water bath	Zhengzhou Great Wall Scientific Industrial	HH-S2