In Vitro Selection of Aptamers to Differentiate Infectious from Non-Infectious Viruses

Summary

We provide a protocol that can be generally applied to select aptamers that bind to infectious viruses only and not to viruses that have been rendered non-infectious by a disinfection method or to any other similar viruses. This opens the possibility of determining infectivity status in portable and rapid tests.

Abstract

Virus infections have a major impact on society; most methods of detection have difficulties in determining whether a detected virus is infectious, causing delays in treatment and further spread of the virus. Developing new sensors that can inform on the infectability of clinical or environmental samples will meet this unmet challenge. However, very few methods can obtain sensing molecules that can recognize an intact infectious virus and differentiate it from the same virus that has been rendered non-infectious by disinfection methods. Here, we describe a protocol to select aptamers that can distinguish infectious viruses vs non-infectious viruses using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). We take advantage of two features of SELEX. First, SELEX can be tailor-made to remove competing targets, such as non-infectious viruses or other similar viruses, using counter selection. Additionally, the whole virus can be used as the target for SELEX, instead of, for example, a viral surface protein. Whole virus SELEX allows for the selection of aptamers that bind specifically to the native state of the virus, without the need to disrupt of the virus. This method thus allows recognition agents to be obtained based on functional differences in the surface of pathogens, which do not need to be known in advance.

Introduction

Virus infections have enormous economic and societal impacts around the world, as became increasingly apparent from the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Timely and accurate diagnosis is paramount in treating viral infections while preventing the spread of viruses to healthy people. While many virus detection methods have been developed, such as PCR tests^1,2 and inmunoassays³, most of the currently used methods are not capable of determining whether the detected virus is actually infectious or not. This is because the presence of components of the virus alone, such as viral nucleic acid or prot....

Protocol

1. Preparation of reagents and buffers

1. Prepare 10x Tris-borate EDTA (10x TBE) by adding 0.9 M Tris-base, 0.9 M boric acid, 20 mM EDTA (disodium salt), and deionized water to a final volume of 1 L. Mix until all the components are dissolved.
2. Prepare a 10% denaturing polyacrylamide stock solution as follows. In a 250 mL glass bottle, add 120 g of urea (8 M), 25 mL of 10x TBE, 62.5 mL of 40% acrylamide/bisacrylamide (29:1) solution, and enough distilled water to reach the final volume of 250 mL. Mix until all the components are dissolved.
3. Prepare 2x loading buffer as follows. In a 50 mL tube, add 21.636 g of urea (8 M), 1.....

Results

Since DNA aptamers can be obtained using SELEX in a test tube¹⁵, this SELEX strategy was carefully designed to include both positive selection steps toward the intact, whole infectious virus (i.e., retain the DNA molecules that bind to the infectious virus), as well as counter selection steps for the same virus that has been rendered non-infectious by a particular disinfection method, specifically UV-treatment, by discarding the DNA sequences that can bind to the non-infectious virus. A schematic .......

Discussion

SELEX allows not only the identification of aptamers with high affinity, in the pM-nM range^22,43,44,45, but also with high and tunable selectivity. By taking advantage of counter selection, aptamers with challenging selectivity can be obtained. For instance, the Li group has demonstrated the ability to obtain sequences that can differentiate pathogenic bacterial strains from non-pathogenic stra.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
10% Ammonium persulfate (APS)	BioRad	1610700
100% Ethanol	Sigma-Aldrich	E7023
1x PBS without calcium & magnesium	Corning	21-040-CM
40% acrylamide/bisacrylamide (29:1) solution	BioRad	1610146
Agencourt AMPure XP Beads	Beckman Coulter	A63880	DNA clean-up beads - Section 7.2.2
Amicon Ultra-0.5 Centrifugal Filter Unit	Merck	UFC501024	cut-off 10 kDa
Amicon Ultra-0.5 Centrifugal Filter Unit	Merck	UFC510024	cut-off 100 kDa
Boric Acid	Sigma-Aldrich	100165
C1000 Touch Thermal Cycler with Dual 48/48 Fast Reaction Module	BioRad	1851148
Calcium Chloride	Sigma-Aldrich	C4901
CFX Connect Real-Time PCR Detection System	BioRad	1855201
Digital Dry Baths/Block Heaters	Thermo Scientific	88870001
Dynabeads MyOne Streptavidin C1	Thermo Fisher	65001	streptavidin-modified magnetic beads - Section 4.9
EDTA disodium salt	Sigma-Aldrich	324503
Eppendorf Safe-Lock microcentrifuge tubes	Sigma-Aldrich	T9661	1.5 mL
Lenti-X p24 Rapid Titer Kit	Takara Bio USA, Inc.	632200	Lentivirus quantification kit - Section 3.3.2.1
MagJET Separation Rack, 12 x 1.5 mL tube	Thermo Scientific	MR02
Magnesium chloride	Sigma-Aldrich	M8266
Microseal 'B' PCR Plate Sealing Film, adhesive, optical	BioRad	MSB1001	non-UV absorbing
Mini-PROTEAN Tetra Cell for Ready Gel Precast Gels	BioRad	1658004EDU
Mini-PROTEAN Short Plates	BioRad	1653308
Mini-PROTEAN Spacer Plates with 0.75 mm Integrated Spacers	BioRad	1653310
Molecular Biology Grade Water	Lonza	51200
Multiplate 96-Well PCR Plates, high profile, unskirted, clear	BioRad	MLP9611
Nanodrop One	Thermo Scientific	ND-ONE-W
OneTaq DNA Polymerase	New England BioLab	M0480S
Ovation Ultralow v2 + UDI	Tecan	0344NB-A01	High-troughput sequencing library preparation kit - Section 7.2.
PIPETMAN G (100-1000 µL, 20-200 µL, 2-20 µL and 0.2-2 µL)	Gilson	F144059M, F144058M, F144056M, F144054M
Purifier Logic+ Class II, Type A2 Biosafety Cabinets	Labconco	4261
Qubit dsDNA BR Assay Kit	Invitrogen	Q32850	fluorescence-based  dsDNA quantification  kit - Section 7.2.3
SHARP Classic Low Retention Pipet Tips (10 uL, 200 uL, 1000 uL)	Thomas Scientific	1158U43, 1159M44, 1158U40
Sodium acetate	Sigma-Aldrich	S2889
Sodium chloride	Sigma-Aldrich	S7653
Sorvall Legend Micro 17R Microcentrifuge	Thermo Scientific	75002440
SsoFast EvaGreen Supermix	BioRad	1725201	qPCR mastermix - Section 6.2.
Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane	Sigma-Aldrich	T1503
Tubes and Ultra Clear Caps, strips of 8	USA scientific	AB1183	PCR tubes
Urea	Sigma-Aldrich	U5128