Patent Application
20190187156
The instant application contains a Sequence Listing which has been submitted electronically in ASCII format and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Said ASCII copy, created on May 31, 2017, is named 135069_402887-00585_SL.txt and is 303,128 bytes in size.
DNA is not randomly organized in the nucleus, but is instead structured around function. For decades, it has been known that DNA can change its compaction based on gene expression. For example, DNA is compacted into heterochromatin when genes are silenced, but is more accessible as open euchromatin when genes are activated. This compaction of DNA in the nucleus is thought to play an important role in gene regulation because it makes genes more or less accessible to regulatory proteins such as transcription factors, polymerase, and chromatin modifying proteins. However, it remains unclear how specific genes are positioned in the nucleus to achieve specific functions, such as regulating gene expression.
Over the past few decades, microscopy has identified another feature of nuclear structure called nuclear bodies. These are discrete structures in the nucleus where DNA, RNA, and proteins are brought together in the nucleus in 3D proximity. One of the most well known examples of a nuclear body is the nucleolus, where the transcription of ribosomal DNA genes occurs in a hub around nucleolar proteins and Poll. Another nuclear body, the speckle, has a high concentration of mRNAs and splicing proteins in discrete bodies in the nucleus, and another is the histone locus body where histone genes localize to a nuclear body with a high concentration of regulatory RNAs.
At a much higher resolution, chromosome confirmation capture C (3C)-based methods have been developed to map DNA-DNA interactions at higher resolution. These methods have identified several features of nuclear structure such as compartments where active and inactive genes interact more frequently with other active and inactive regions on the same chromosome. At a tens of kilobase scale, it has been observed that DNA is organized into neighborhoods of genes, called topologically associated domains, or TADs.
Nonetheless, current imaging methods are limited in the number of loci that can be observed at once, and because HiC (an extension of 3C) is limited in detection of pairwise interactions, both 3C and HiC methods are unable to detect whether these transcriptional hubs are a general feature of gene regulation. Specifically, there are no existing methods that can detect whether higher-order transcriptional hubs exist in single cells.
In some embodiments of the present inventions, a method for identifying interactions of DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules in a cell, includes lysing the cell to form a cell lysate, distributing the cell lysate into a plurality of lysate suspensions, adding a unique nucleotide tag to each of the lysate suspensions to tag the DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules in the respective lysate suspension and thereby forming a plurality of tagged lysate suspensions, the unique nucleotide tag in each tagged lysate suspension being different from the unique nucleotide tags for the other tagged lysate suspensions, pooling the plurality of tagged lysate suspensions to form a tagged pool, distributing the tagged pool into a plurality of tagged suspensions and performing iii) and iv) n number of times on the plurality of tagged suspensions to form a plurality of tagged suspensions in which the DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules have n+1 number of unique nucleotide tags, pooling the plurality of tagged suspensions to form a final tagged pool, sequencing each of the n+1 number of nucleotide tags in the final tagged pool; and identifying the DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules having the same sequence and order of nucleotide tags.
In some embodiments of the present invention, a method for detecting interactions of molecules in a nucleus of a cell, includes, lysing the cell, isolating the nucleus from the cell lysate, shearing the chromatin in the nucleus forming a suspension of sheared chromatin, distributing the suspension into a first plurality of suspensions, adding a first unique nucleotide tag to the DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules in each of the first plurality of suspensions, each unique nucleotide tag being different for each suspension, pooling the tagged first plurality of suspensions to form a first tagged pool, sequencing each of the first unique nucleotide tags in the first tagged pool, and identifying the DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules having the same unique nucleotide tag.
The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawings will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
A method for identifying DNA, RNA, and/or protein interactions in higher order structures in a cell includes a series of nucleotide tagging (or barcoding), pooling, and sorting of a cell lysate suspension such that interacting molecules sort together and thereby receive the same set of nucleotide tags (i.e., receive the same barcode), and molecules that do not interact are sorted apart, and thereby receive a different set of nucleotide tags (i.e., receive different barcodes), as shown in
As used herein, the term “DNA” refers to deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA may be double stranded including both complementary strands, unless the DNA is shown to be or indicated to be single stranded (ss) DNA.
As used herein, the term “RNA” refers to ribonucleic acid. RNA is a single stranded nucleic acid molecule, and as shown or indicated herein, may be a part of a double stranded molecule when complemented, for example, with copy DNA (cDNA) by reverse transcription.
As used herein, “suspension” refers to a liquid heterogeneous mixture. For example, a suspension may refer to a cell lysate having all of its cellular molecules in a liquid mixture. For example, a suspension may also include a cell lysate after homogenization, sonication, or chemical shearing.
As used herein, “adding,” and like terms, refer to the combination of two components together, no matter the order of the addition. For example, “adding” a nucleotide tag to a molecule is the same as “adding” a molecule to a nucleotide tag so long as the nucleotide tag and the molecule are combined.
As used herein, “distributing” and “sorting” are used interchangeably to refer to the division of a whole quantity into a plurality of parts. For example, distributing or sorting a suspension involves the division of the whole suspension into multiple smaller suspensions.
As used herein, “pooling” refers to collecting and mixing together a plurality of components. For example, pooling of suspensions includes mixing multiple suspensions into one larger, pooled suspension.
As used herein, “shearing” or “fragmenting,” and like terms, refer to chemical or mechanical means of separating or fragmenting a cell lysate. For example, shearing of chromatin (e.g., chromosomal DNA) may be carried out using mechanical means or chemical means. Non-limiting examples of mechanical shearing include sonication or homogenization. Non-limiting examples of chemical shearing, for example, of chromatin, include enzymatic fragmentation, using, for example DNase.
As used herein, the term “adaptor” refers to a molecule that may be coupled to a target molecule and enable or facilitate more effective nucleotide tagging (e.g., ligation), elongation, amplification, and/or sequencing of the target molecule. For example, DNA phosphate modified (DPM) adaptor according to embodiments of the present invention and shown in
In addition to the tagging adaptors, a 5′ single stranded RNA (ssRNA) adaptor, for example, as shown in
As used herein, the terms “tagging” and “nucleotide tagging” refer to the coupling of oligonucleotides to DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules in order to label molecules that are found to interact (directly or indirectly) in a complex. The tagging refers to the oligonucleotide label (tag) that identifies molecules that sort together thereby receiving the same tag. Additionally, coupling of oligonucleotides, according to embodiments of the present invention, may also be used to enable molecules to be tagged. For example, as shown in
According to embodiments of the present invention, a method for identifying interactions of DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules in a cell, includes lysing the cell to form a cell lysate. In some embodiments, interactions may be identified using a whole cell lysate. In some embodiments, interactions may be identified using a fractionated cell lysate. For example, molecular interactions may be analyzed using the cytosol and/or any of the organelles. In some embodiments of the present invention, the nucleus may be isolated from the cell lysate for analysis of molecular interactions.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the cell or cell lysate may be treated with a crosslinker. The crosslinker may be added to the cell prior to cell lysis, or the crosslinker may be added to the cell lysate. Any suitable chemical crosslinker may be used. In some embodiments, disuccinimidyl glutarate (DSG) and/or formaldehyde crosslinkers may be used.
Following lysis, with or without crosslinking, the cell lysate, a cytosolic fraction of the cell lysate, or an organelle fraction of the cell lysate, all of which may be referred to as the suspension, may be distributed into a plurality of lysate suspensions for nucleotide tagging of the DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules. Nucleotide tagging for each of DNA, RNA, and proteins may be carried out using any suitable method. Many means of nucleotide labeling are known. Examples of methods are shown, for example in
Distribution or sorting of the suspension into the lysate suspensions may be performed using any suitable approach. As described in the examples disclosed herein, distribution of the suspension may be accomplished using a 96-well plate, thereby resulting in 96 suspensions and 96 unique nucleotide tags. The number of suspensions is not limited to a minimum or maximum. As is understood by the skilled person, an increase in the number of suspensions will increase the probability of sorting non-interacting molecules apart from each other. As used herein, a “well” refers to the well of a 96-plate, however, any number of wells or plates may be used. A well may also refer to the well of a tube or any similar vessel capable of holding the sorted lysate suspension separate from other sorted lysate suspensions. For example, a well may also include a flat surface.
To each of the distributed lysate suspensions, a unique nucleotide tag may be added. As used herein, “unique” means different from any other. As noted above in the definition of adding, either the unique nucleotide tag can be added to its respective distributed lysate suspension, or the distributed suspension may be added to a well containing its respective unique nucleotide tag. For example, in a 96-well set up, a plurality of lysate suspensions would refer to 96 suspensions receiving one of 96 different nucleotide tags. Each unique nucleotide tag is capable of tagging the DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules in the lysate suspension. In some embodiments, the nucleotide tagging is facilitated by an adaptor molecule, such as the DPM, RPM, or PPM disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the nucleotide tagging of a protein molecule includes expressing a modified protein of interest in a cell, in which the expressed modified protein is capable of being coupled to an oligonucleotide. The oligonucleotide directly coupled to the protein may serve as a nucleotide tag for identification. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotide coupled to the protein may be ligated with subsequent nucleotide tags. In some embodiments, an antibody that binds to a target protein may be modified with an oligonucleotide. The antibody coupled oligonucleotide enables the protein to be labeled which may serve as a nucleotide tag for identification. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotide coupled to the antibody may be ligated with subsequent nucleotide tags. In some embodiments, an antibody modified with an oligonucleotide is incubated with the cell lysate prior to nucleotide tagging.
After a unique first nucleotide tag is coupled or ligated to each of the plurality of lysate suspensions, the lysate suspensions may be pooled, thereby forming a first tagged pool. In some embodiments, the first nucleotide tag may be any suitable oligonucleotide that is capable of being sequenced. In some embodiments, the first nucleotide tag is added to any one sorted lysate suspension is capable of binding to all DNA, RNA and/or protein molecules. In some embodiments, the first nucleotide tag is capable of ligating to all DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules in the lysate suspension that have been modified with a DPM, RPM, or PPM adaptor as disclosed herein. This first nucleotide tag may be referred to as an “Odd” nucleotide tag as shown in
To each of the distributed plurality of tagged pool suspensions, a unique second nucleotide tag may be added (or each of the plurality of tagged pool suspensions may be added to its respective unique second nucleotide tag). In some embodiments, all of the second nucleotide tags are capable of ligating to any of the previously ligated first nucleotide tags. This second nucleotide tag is referred to as an “Even” nucleotide tag as shown in
After a unique second nucleotide tag is coupled or ligated to each tagged pool suspension, the tagged pool suspensions may again be pooled forming a second tagged pool. In some embodiments, the nucleotide tags in the second tagged pool may be amplified and sequenced, or redistributed for another round of tagging. The pooling, distributing (sorting), and tagging may continue indefinitely so long as the integrity of the samples is maintained, and unique nucleotide tags remain available. In some embodiments, the second tagged pool is redistributed into a plurality of tagged re-pooled suspensions for a third nucleotide tagging in which the third nucleotide tag ligates to any of the second nucleotide tags. The third nucleotide tag may be referred to as an “Odd” tag as it can ligate to the previous “Even” tag. Nucleotide tagging may continue indefinitely so long as the previous tag is capable of ligating the subsequent tag. An example of this is the Odd to Even to Odd tagging as shown in
In some embodiments, after the first nucleotide tagging, the pooling, distributing, and tagging may be carried out (n) number of times, such that the DNA, RNA, and/or protein molecules in the suspension receive (n)+1 number of nucleotide tags.
In some embodiments, after the desired number of sorting and tagging has been performed, the plurality of tagged (n)x pooled suspensions are pooled into a final pool and the tagged molecules in the final pool are amplified for sequencing. In some embodiments, after the last nucleotide tag is added, the final pool may be redistributed again into a plurality of tagged final pool suspensions for the addition of a Terminal nucleotide tag. As shown in
In some embodiments of the present invention, the tagged final pool is first amplified to make a library of amplified tags as disclosed herein. Amplified tags are then sequenced using next generation sequencing as disclosed.
The following Examples are presented for illustrative purposes only, and do not limit the scope or content of the present application.
Using one approach, SPRITE may be carried out using several molecular biology steps: (i) crosslinked complexes are coupled to magnetic beads at a loading frequency such that there is expected to be <1 complex per bead. (ii) A unique molecular sequence tag is ligated to double stranded DNA using T4 DNA Ligase and a distinct molecular sequence tag is ligated to single stranded RNA using RNA Ligase 1. These DNA and RNA tags each attach an identical “sticky end” overhang for efficient ligation of subsequent tags (
To confirm that SPRITE successfully tags interacting molecules in vivo, several possible challenges were considered. (i) Because mapping interactions requires accurately assigning molecules to their original crosslinked complex, it needed to be ensured that most molecules present within the same crosslinked complex will contain a complete set of tags. To do this, the ligation conditions were optimized by designing a tag that contains a 7 nt overhang that anneals with a high Tm (Tm=20° C.) than a more-commonly used 2-3 nt sticky end (Tm=5-10° C.) to a complementary overhang present on the molecule. Using this approach, ˜92% efficiency of tag extension was achieved in each round (
SPRITE accurately maps genome structure at various levels of resolution. To test whether SPRITE can be used for mapping genome structure, results obtained by SPRITE were compared to known DNA structures. To do this, data generated by HiC was used, a proximity-ligation method that enables genome-wide mapping of DNA-DNA interactions, which is currently the gold-standard approach for measuring DNA interactions.
To compare SPRITE to HiC, maps were generated in two mammalian cell types that have been well mapped by HiC (mouse ES cells and human lymphoblastoid cells). Because HiC observes pairwise interactions, interactions were down-weighted from higher-order (>2 molecules each) clusters by the number of molecules in cluster minus 1 (n−1) such that larger clusters contribute the same number of contacts as pairwise clusters to compare SPRITE interactions directly with HiC interactions. Overall, these maps were found to be highly similar, such that at 200 Kb resolution we observe a spearman correlation of 0.92. This high correlation demonstrates that SPRITE produces comparable genome-wide maps to that observed by HiC.
Using SPRITE, similar structural features of the genome that have been previously characterized using HiC were observed. For example, for interactions occurring across all chromosomes, it was observed that there is a clear preference for interactions to occur within the same chromosome (
At sub-megabase resolution, it was observed that adjacent regions of DNA organize into discrete regions that are highly self-interacting and are separated by boundaries that preclude interaction with neighboring regions. These structures correspond to those previously mapped by HiC and have been referred to as topologically associated domains (TADs) (
SPRITE observes longer range interactions than those observed by HiC. In addition to accurately recapitulating HiC data, one key advantage of SPRITE is that it can map higher-order interactions that occur within a single region of the nucleus. Because 3C methods make use of proximity-ligation, they are intrinsically limited to measurements of pairs of DNA regions that interact. In contrast, SPRITE can map interactions between many DNA regions at once allowing us to directly measuring higher-order interactions. It was found that >45% of interactions observed by SPRITE occur between more than 2 interacting DNA molecules. We hypothesized that larger clusters might capture interactions across further genomic distances than those observed using HiC. To test this, SPRITE interactions were separated into groups consisting of tagged complexes containing 2-10 (˜34%), 11-100 (˜13%), 101-1000 (˜8%), and 1001+(˜9%) molecules (
This distinction from HiC in the structures mapped using SPRITE likely reflects a difference in the molecular biology of these approaches—whereas HiC requires molecules to be close enough in some proportion of cells to touch (in order to ligate), SPRITE requires molecules to be close enough to crosslink, which corresponds more to the overall distance in the nucleus rather than frequency of contact (
Novel Higher-Order Interactions can be Mapped Using SPRITE.
Histone gene clusters exhibit higher-order intra- and inter-chromosomal interactions. Because SPRITE identifies clusters of interacting molecules and therefore provides direct information about higher-order interactions in the nucleus, it was tested whether once can observe interactions between several genes and DNA regions all crosslinked and interacting with each other. To explore whether one can observe higher-order interactions, the presence of higher-order contacts was investigated, corresponding to genes that are expected to be hubs of higher-order DNA contacts in the nucleus according to microscopy studies of nuclear bodies. These higher-order interactions at various scales were analyzed both within the same chromosome and across different chromosomes.
One notable higher-order interaction that was observed with SPRITE occurs between histone gene clusters, known to interact with the histone locus nuclear body (also referred to as the cajal body). The histone locus body forms around replication-dependent histone genes in both mouse and human cells. These genes lack introns and a poly(A) tail, and are processed through interactions with the U7 snRNP, which is enriched at the Cajal body/histone locus bodies. Histone loci are thought to (at least transiently) localize to this nuclear body where a high concentration of processing proteins and RNAs can localize in proximity to their transcription loci. In mice and humans, 51 Hist1 and 55 histone HIST1 genes reside within a ˜2 Mb region on chromosomes 13 and 6, respectively. Notably, despite being localized within a 2.1 Mb region, these Hist1 and HIST1 gene clusters contain a 1.3 Mb gap of non-histone genes between the Hist1 and HIST1 gene clusters, except for a small group of five histone genes in the middle of these two large clusters (
In both humans and mice, there is another locus containing core histone genes on chromosome 1 and chromosome 3 that correspond to the HIST2 and Hist2 gene clusters, respectively. In humans, the HIST2 gene cluster contains 6 histone genes in a 100-kb region with no other genes between them (
Centromere Clusters and the Nucleolus are Hubs for Inter-Chromosomal interactions.
Another set of higher-order interactions investigated was whether inter-chromosomal interactions could be observed at larger-scale nuclear bodies identified in the nucleus. As previously discussed, larger SPRITE clusters appear to span further genomic distances, and thus the focus was on clusters containing >1000 reads to investigate long-range interactions at large nuclear bodies. A striking feature of these higher-order maps is the frequency of inter-chromosomal interactions occurring in very large clusters that contain >1000 molecules. In analyzing these regions, we identified two interesting, well-defined, nuclear structures—interactions of pericentromeric heterochromatin regions and interactions of DNA sites at the nucleolus.
In both imaging- and HiC-based studies, pericentromeric heterochromatin has been shown to interact at a nuclear body described as centromere clusters in both mouse and human cells. Consistent with previous HiC-observations, SPRITE observes a sticking inter-chromosomal interaction between the 5′ends of several chromosomes (
In addition to observing inter-chromosomal interactions at centromeric clusters, inter-chromosomal interactions at the nucleolus, another large nuclear body, were observed. In clusters containing >1000 reads, an enrichment for inter-chromosomal interactions between regions on chromosomes 12, 15, 16, 18, and 19 was observed (
To further confirm that these rRNA-associated regions of DNA are indeed arranged around the nucleolus, immunofluorescence coupled with DNA FISH was used to calculate the 3D distance of each DNA regions relative to the nucleolus. Specifically, two sets of DNA regions: (i) DNA regions contained within these large inter-chromosomal clusters and enriched for rRNA-association (i.e. “nucleolar regions”) and (ii) a control region on chromosome 3 not enriched in these clusters and not thought to contain NORs (“control region”). Two DNA regions were imaged together with the nucleophosmin protein, a well-defined nucleolar marker (
Inter-chromosomal interactions between chromosomes 12, 15, 16, 18, and 19 may occur through their shared interaction at the nucleolus. Thus, the distance between specific rRNA-enriched 1-2 Mb regions on chromosomes 12, 15, 16, 18, and 19 was measured using DNA FISH. As a negative control, the distance between these rRNA-associated regions was measured to the 1 Mb region on chr3. In 31-58% of the cells, the NOR chromosomes were both within 0 um from the same nucleolus, compared to 4-10% of the cells being the same distance away for the negative control regions (
Mouse ES Cell Culture and Xist Induction.
All mouse ES cell lines were cultured in serum-free 2i/LIF medium as previously described in J. M. Engreitz et al., The Xist IncRNA exploits three-dimensional genome architecture to spread across the X chromosome. Science (80-89). 341, 1237973 (2013); C. A. McHugh et al., The Xist IncRNA interacts directly with SHARP to silence transcription through HDAC3. Nature. 521, 232-236 (2015); and C. Chen et al., Xist recruits the X chromosome to the nuclear lamina to enable chromosome-wide silencing. Science. 354, 468-472 (2016), the entire contents of all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Female ES cells (F1 2-1 line, generously provided by K. Plath) are an F1 hybrid wild-type mouse ES cell line derived from a 129×CAST (castaneous) cross. Maintenance of 2× chromosomes in this line was monitored by X chromosome paint imaging, restriction length polymorphism analysis, as well as Sanger sequencing of SNPs on the X chromosome. The pSM33 ES cell line (kindly provided by K. Plath) is a male ES cell line, derived from the V6.5 ES cell line, expressing the IncRNA Xist from the endogenous locus under the transcriptional control of a tet-inducible promoter and the Tet transactivator (M2rtTA) from the Rosa26 locus. To induce Xist, doxycycline (Sigma, D9891) was added to cultures at a final concentration of 2 ug/ml for 6-24 hrs.
Human Lymphoblast Cell Culture.
GM12878 cells (Coriell Cell Repositories), a human lymphoblastoid cell line, was cultured in RPMI 1640 (Gibco, Life Technologies), 2 mM L-glutamine, 15% fetal bovine serum, and 1× penicillin-streptomycin and maintained at 37° C. under 5% CO2. Cells were seeded every 3-4 days at 200,000 cells/ml in T25 flasks and passaged or harvested before reaching 1,000,000 cells/ml.
Sample Preparation.
Crosslink cells to fix in vivo RNA-DNA-Protein complexes with disuccinimidyl glutarate (DSG) and formaldehyde crosslinkers. Lyse cells and fragment DNA and RNA to appropriate sizes via sonication and DNase.
“Optimization of lysis conditions (amount of sonication, amount/timing of DNase) is a critical step in establishing the protocol for the first time. The length of sonication might vary from 1-10 minutes and DNase treatment might vary from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on cell number, ploidy, crosslinking strength, and the desired [DNA] fragment size. To optimize DNase timing and conditions, remove 5 μL lysate aliquots every 2-4 minutes, quench with EDTA and EGTA on ice, and assay DNA sizes for each time point as described in the protocol. If an appropriate combination of solubilization and DNA fragment sizes cannot be obtained by varying the amount of sonication or DNase, then reducing the strength of the crosslinking may be necessary.” (1) REF HERE.
DSG Crosslinking Solution
Scraping Buffer
1×PBS pH 7.5
0.5% BSA
Store at 4° C.
Cell Lysis Buffer A
50 mM Hepes pH 7.4
1 mM EDTA
1 mM EGTA
140 mM NaCl
0.25% Triton-X
0.5% NP-40
10% Glycerol
Cell Lysis Buffer B
10 mM Tris pH 8
1.5 mM EDTA
1.5 mM EGTA
200 mM NaCl
10× Annealing Buffer
100 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5
2M LiCl
2 mM EDgTA
Cell Lysis Buffer C
10 mM Tris pH 8
1.5 mM EDTA
1.5 mM EGTA
100 mM NaCl
0.1% DOC
0.5% NLS
10× DNase Buffer
200 mM Hepes pH 7.4
1M NaCl
0.5% NP-40
5 mM CaCl2
25 mM MnCl2
25× DNase Stop Solution
250 mM EDTA
125 mM EGTA
MyRNK Buffer
20 mM Tris pH 7.5
100 mM NaCl
10 mM EDTA
10 mM EGTA
0.5% Triton-X
0.2% SDS
Coupling Buffer
1×PBS
0.1% SDS
RLT++ Buffer
1× Buffer RLT supplied by Qiagen
10 mM Tris pH 7.5
1 mM EDTA
1 mM EGTA
0.2% NLS
0.1% Triton-X
0.1% NP-40
M2 Wash Buffer
20 mM Tris pH 7.5
50 mM NaCl
0.2% Triton-X
0.2% NP-40
0.2% DOC
PBLSD+ Wash Buffer
1×PBS
5 mM EDTA
5 mM EGTA
5 mM DTT (add fresh)
0.2% Triton-X
0.2% NP-40
0.2% DOC
Formaldehyde-DSG Crosslinking.
Grow adherent cells on 15-cm plates.
Before crosslinking, count one plate. This protocol details crosslinking multiple plates of cells in one suspension, but it is important to maintain consistency in lysate batches. Typically cells are stored in 10M pellets. Lift cells from plate and wash: Remove media from plates. Add 5 mL TVP to each 15 cm plate and rock gently for 3-4 minutes. Afterwards, add 25 mL wash solution to each plate. Vigorously suspend cells in the wash solution and transfer from plate to a 50 mL conical tube. Rinse the plate with extra wash solution and add to the 50 mL conical. Pellet in a centrifuge for 3 minutes at 3300×G at room temperature. Wash cells by resuspending in 4 mL room temperature 1×PBS per 10M cells and transfer to a 15 mL conical, and pellet again. Resuspend cells in DSG Crosslinking Solution, 4 mL per 10M cells. Rock gently at room temperature for 45 minutes. Pellet cells for 4 minutes at 1000×G at room temperature, and discard supernatant. Wash cells with 4 mL 1×PBS per 10M cells. Pellet as before, discarding supernatant. Resuspend cell pellet in 3% formaldehyde in PBS. Rock gently at room temperature for 10 minutes. Add 200 uL of 2.5M glycine stop solution per 1 mL of cell suspension. Rock gently at room temperature for 5 minutes. Pellet cells at 4 C for 4 minutes at 1000×G at room temperature. Discard formaldehyde supernatant in an appropriate waste container. From here, keep cells at 4 C. Resuspend cell pellet in cold Scraping Buffer and gently rock for 1-2 minutes. Pellet cells at 4 C for 4 minutes at 1000×g. Discard supernatant in formaldehyde waste container. Resuspend cell pellet in cold Scraping Buffer again and gently rock for 1-2 minutes. Pellet as before and discard supernatant. Resuspend pellet in 1 mL of Scraping Buffer per 10M cells. Aliquot 10M cells each into Microcentrifuge tubes and pellet at 4 C for 5 minutes at 2000×g. Remove supernatant. Flash freeze in liquid nitrogen and store pellet at −80 C.
Cell Lysis.
Chill Lysis Buffers A, B, and Con ice. Thaw 10M cell pellets on ice. Add 1.4 mL of Lysis Buffer A supplemented with 1× Proteinase Cocktail Inhibitor (PIC) to each 10M cell pellet and resuspend. Incubate mixtures on ice for 10 minutes.
Pellet cells at 4 C for 9 minutes at 850×g. Discard the supernatant, taking care not to disturb the pellet. Add 1.4 mL of Lysis Buffer B supplemented with 1×PIC to each 10M cell pellet and resuspend. Incubate mixtures on ice for 10 minutes. Pellet cells at 4 C for 9 minutes at 850×g. Discard the supernatant, taking care not to disturb the pellet. Add 550 uL of Lysis Buffer C supplemented with 1×PIC to each 10M nuclei pellet and resuspend. Incubate mixture on ice for 8 minutes. Sonicate each sample at 5 watts for 1 minute: 1 pulse for 0.7 seconds ON, 3.3 seconds OFF. During and after sonication, keep lysate at 4 C. Pool all lysates together and split again into 10M aliquots. This ensures that all samples in each tube are equally lysed. Flash freeze lysate and store at −80 C.
DNA Fragmentation.
Thaw one tube of lysate on ice. To determine the optimal amount of DNase to use for DNA fragmentation, test varying DNase concentrations on 10 uL aliquots of lysate.
Incubate at 37 C for 20 minutes. Add 1 uL of 25× DNase Stop Solution to each sample to terminate the reaction. Reverse the crosslinks in each sample.
Incubate for at 65 C for three hours at the minimum, optimally overnight. Follow the protocol provided in the DNA Clean and Concentrator-5 Kit, binding in 6 volumes of DNA Binding Buffer. Elute in 10 uL of H20. Run each DNase sample on a gel with a 100 bp DNA ladder. An ideal fragmentation sample will have most DNA around 200 bp. Size should not greatly exceed 1 kb. If none of these concentrations of TURBO DNase result in ideal fragmentation, adjust concentrations and repeat the DNasing until optimal conditions are found. DNase the batch of crosslinked lysate at the identified optimal DNAase concentration.
X uL
Incubate at 37 C for 20 minutes. Add 44 uL of 25× DNase Stop Solution to each sample to terminate the reaction. Flash freeze DNase lysate and store at −80 C.
Library Preparation.
Lysate is coupled to Pierce NHS-Activated Magnetic Beads to allow for easy DNA library preparation. DNA overhangs caused by fragmentation are repaired and blunted by a combination of T4 Polynucleoide Kinase, which adds phosphate onto 5′ ends, and T4 DNA Polymerase, which has 5′ to 3′ polymerase activity as well as 3′ to 5′ exonuclease activity. Klenow fragment (-exo) is used to add adenine to 3′ ends of each DNA molecule. This aids in ligation of the DPM adaptor, which has a 3′ thymine overhang, without creating spurious ligation products.
It is helpful to have an optimal bead to molecule ratio for the library preparation and SPRITE processes. Ideally, binding at a 3:4 ratio of DNA molecules to beads is desired; and in general for these examples, around 50 billion molecules bound to 75 billion beads. Assuming 50% binding efficiency and further DNA loss during library clean ups, there remains a few billion molecules for sequencing. To determine the microliter amount of lysate to couple the lysate molarity was calculated by running a 5% aliquot on the Qubit Fluorometer to determine concentration and the Agilent Bioanalyzer to determine average size.
NHS Coupling.
All wash steps at 4 C are performed in a cold room. All wash steps above room temperature are performed on an Eppendorf Thermomixer. If a temperature is not specified, it is at room temperature. To wash beads, place the tube containing the beads on a magnetic rack to capture the beads. Wait until the solution is clear and all beads are captured before removing the liquid. Add the wash solution to the beads and remove the tube from the magnet. Gently pipette with a low-bind tip to mix thoroughly until all beads are in suspension. If using an Eppendorf Thermomixer, set the thermomixer to shake at 1200 RPM. Then place the tube back on the magnet to capture the beads again. Wait until the solution is clear and all beads are captured before removing the wash liquid.
The protocol may be stopped at any point of the process. To ensure the integrity of the DNA, resuspend the beads in 1 mL RLT++ and store at 4 C until you wish to resume. Wash three times with M2 Buffer to remove all RLT before proceeding with the protocol.
All steps involving bead pipetting should use low-bind pipette tips. Gently invert the bottle containing the NHS beads in DMAc until there is a uniform suspension. Being careful not to introduce water into the bottle, transfer 2 mL of NHS beads into a clean 1.7 mL tube. Place the tube on a magnetic rack to capture the beads. Remove the DMAc and wash beads with 1 mL ice-cold 1 mM HCl. Wash beads with 1 mL ice-cold 1×PBS. Add 1 mL Coupling Buffer to the beads. Before mixing, add the appropriate amount of lysate to the coupling buffer. Incubate the lysate and beads overnight at 4 C on a mixer. Place beads on a magnet and remove a 500 uL flowthrough aliquot to another tube. This aliquot can be analyzed to determine how much lysate was coupled.
Add 500 uL 1M Tris pH 7.5 to the beads and incubate on a mixer at 4 C for at least 45 minutes. This ensures that all beads will be quenched with protein, either from lysate or tris, and will not bind enzymes in the following steps. Wash beads four times in cold RLT++ Buffer at 4 C for 3-5 minutes each time. Wash beads twice in PBLSD+ Wash Buffer at 50 C for 4-5 minutes each time. Wash beads once at room temperature in PBLSD+ buffer. Wash beads three times with M2 Buffer. Spin the beads down quickly in a microcentrifuge and place back on the magnet to remove any remaining liquid.
FastAP to Repair Ends of RNA for Ligation of the RPM Adaptor.
1. Set up the following reaction
2. Incubate on a thermomixer at 37 C for 30 min at 1200 rpm
3. Wash beads once in RLT++ to inactivate FastAP
4. Wash beads twice in M2 buffer
Phosphorylation of RNA to Add a 5′Phosphate to RNA.
1. Set up the following reaction and add to beads
2. Incubate for 10 minutes at 37 C at 1200 rpm
3. Add 2.5 ul of 100 mM ATP after 10 minutes of incubation
4. Incubate 20 more minutes (for a total of 30 minutes) at 37 C at 1200 rpm
5. Rinse beads twice in M2 buffer
End Repair of DNA to Blunt-End and Phosphorylate DNA.
1. Set up the following reaction and add to beads
2. Incubate for 1 hr at 20 C, 1200 rpm
3. Rinse once in RLT++ buffer
4. Rinse twice in M2 buffer
dA-tailing of DNA.
1. Set up the following reaction and add to beads
2. Incubate 1 hr, 37 C min, 1200 rpm
3. Rinse once in RLT++
4. Rinse twice in M2 Buffer
DPM Adaptor Ligation.
There are 96 adaptors that are designed to ligate onto the DNA molecules. These DPM adaptors are kept in a 96-well stock plate at 45 uM. The ligation reaction between the adaptors and the DNA occurs in a 96-well plate. The following steps that detail set up are designed for optimum efficiency during the process.
All ligation steps include M2 buffer, which contains detergents, to prevent beads from aggregation of multiple beads, from sticking to the plastic tips and tubes, and for even distribution of the beads across a 96-well plate. We have verified that these detergents do not significantly inhibit ligation efficiency.
In the RNA and DNA tagging protocol, a non-phosphorylated version of the bottom strand of the DPM adaptor (with a sticky end for “Odd” and “Even” tagging) was ligated to prevent chimeras of DPM and RPM adaptors ligating each other in subsequent steps. DPM and RPM are subsequently phosphorylated in a later step after ligating both adaptors to add a 5′phosphate to the bottom strands of each adaptor.
Reaction conditions for DPM adaptor ligation:
Make a mixture of 104 ul of H20, 125 ul of M2 buffer, and 10 ul of RNAse Inhibitor. Add mix of H20, M2 Buffer, and RNAse Inhibitor to the beads, and mix well to get beads into solution. Add 11 ul of 45 uM DPM adaptors to the beads and mix well. Add 250 ul of 2× Instant Sticky Mastermix and mix well. Incubate for 30 minutes at 20 C at 1200 rpm. Wash beads once with RLT++. Wash beads four times with PBLSD+ at 45 C for 3 minutes each wash. Wash beads twice in M2 buffer.
Ligation of adaptor to the 5′end of the RNA molecules. An RNA adaptor called 5′ligtag is ligated to the 5′end of all RNA molecules to attach a priming site to RNA for the library amplification after tagging. The 5′ligtag sequence is rGrCrGrArGrGrGrArGrTrCrArGrGrCrArArG (SEQ ID NO: 1) where r indicates a ribose base.
Add 99 ul of H20 to NHS beads. Add 4 ul of 100% DMSO to beads and mix well. Add 4 ul of 5′ligTag adaptor (200 uM) to beads and mix well. Heat NHS beads in the DMSO, water, and 5′ligTag adaptor mix at 65 C for 2 minutes to melt secondary structure of RNA and to make 3′ends accessible for ligation. Immediately put on ice for 2 minutes to prevent secondary structure from re-annealing. Add the following components to NHS beads in the following order from first to last: i) PEG, ii) 100% DMSO, iii) Ligation Buffer, iv) ATP, v) and RNAse inhibitor. The entree ligation mix to beads and mix well. Then, add T4 RNA ligase 1 (high concentration) and mix again to get all of the ligation mixture into solution.
Put in small vortexer at 2000 rpm for 10 seconds to get into all ligation mix and beads into solution. Incubate ligation for 1 hr at 20 C, 1200 rpm. Wash beads once in RLT++ buffer. Wash beads four times for 3 min in PBLSD+ buffer at 45 C. Rinse beads twice in M2 buffer
Ligation of RPM Adaptor to the 3′End of the RNA Molecules.
A double-stranded adaptor called RPM is ligated to the 3′end of all RNA molecules to add the RNA tag for SPRITE tagging of adaptors. The RPM adaptor is partially RNA for efficient RNA ligation of RPM to RNA. The rest of the RPM adaptor is double-stranded DNA for subsequent tagging with the “Odd” and “Even” adaptors.
Add 99 ul of H20 to NHS beads. Add 4 ul of 100% DMSO to beads and mix well. Heat NHS beads in the DMSO and water at 65 C for 2 minutes to melt secondary structure of RNA and to make 3′ends accessible for ligation. Immediately put on ice for 2 minutes to prevent secondary structure from re-annealing. Add the following components to NHS beads in the following order from first to last: i) PEG, ii) 100% DMSO, iii) Ligation Buffer, iv) ATP, v) and RNAse inhibitor. The entree ligation mix to beads and mix well. Then, add T4 RNA ligase 1 (high concentration) and the dsRPM adaptor. Mix again to get all of the ligation reaction into solution.
Put in small vortexer at 2000 rpm for 10 seconds to get into all ligation mix and beads into solution. Incubate ligation for 1 hr at 20 C, 1200 rpm. Wash beads once in RLT++ buffer. Wash beads four times for 3 min in PBLSD+ buffer at 45 C. Rinse beads twice in M2 buffer.
Reverse Transcription of RNA on NHS Beads.
The double-stranded RPM adaptor is used to convert RNA into cDNA. Performing on-bead reverse transcription (RT) helps improve the stability of the RNA-DNA hybrid and reverse transcribes the RNA into cDNA to convert the molecule into cDNA prior to RNA degradation throughout the protocol. A manganese RT protocol is used to allow for reverse-transcription through formaldehyde crosslinks on RNA to convert the entire RNA molecule into cDNA. Add everything to RT mastermix except MnCl2 until right before addition to mastermix.
Make the following 10× MnCl2 RT master mix:
Make the following Reverse Transcription Master Mix:
Add 10× buffer just prior to adding enzymes and adding to tubes
Add RT mastermix to beads, mix well. Add 15 ul of Superscript III enzyme. Incubate at 50 C for 1 hr on shaker, 1200 rpm. Rinse beads twice in M2 buffer.
Phosphorylation of RPM and DPM to add a 5′phosphate for adaptor ligation.
Set up the following reaction and add to beads
Incubate for 10 minutes at 37 C at 1200 rpm. Add 2.5 ul of 100 mM ATP after 10 minutes of incubation. Incubate 20 more minutes (for a total of 30 minutes) at 37 C at 1200 rpm. Rinse beads twice in M2 buffer.
Adaptor and Nucleotide Tag (Barcode) Design.
DNA Phosphate Modified (DPM) Adaptor.
As shown in
RNA Phosphate Modified (RPM (Adaptor).
An RPM adaptor is shown in
Additionally, the sequence for RPM is different from the DPM sequence, allowing each read off the sequencer to be identified as a RNA or DNA molecule depending on whether it contains a RPM or DPM adaptor, respectively. The RPM adaptor uniquely tags RNA through an RNA-specific ligation using single-stranded RNA ligase. The DPM adaptor uniquely tags DNA through a DNA-specific ligation using double-stranded DNA ligase.
The RPM adaptor is designed to specifically ligate RNA molecules using a single-stranded RNA ligase. This RNA-specific ligation tags RNA molecules to distinguish a molecule as RNA, rather than DNA, on the sequencer. With reference to
The pink sequence serves as a RNA-specific tag to identify each read as RNA (if the pink sequence is read) or DNA (if the DPM sequence is read). The blue sequence can serve as a 9 nucleotide barcode tag such that 96 different RPM tags can be ligated. However, it has currently only been used for ligation in a single well, and then an additional round of tag extension is performed than when the DNA SPRITE protocol is performed to achieve the same number of unique barcodes. The green sequence is a sticky end that ligates to the first tag. It contains the same sticky end as the DPM tag, so that both RNA and DNA molecules can be ligated with the same tags in one step when the complexes are split in a 96-well plate. The bottom strand of the RPM adaptor is phosphorylated after ligation of the RPM adaptor to DNA to ensure that the RPM adaptors do not form chimeras and ligate each other. The 3′spacer on the top strand of the RPM adaptor prevents ligation of single-stranded RPM molecules from ligating the RPM adaptor and forming chimeras of several RPM molecules ligating to each other.
cDNA Adaptor.
5′ligtag RNA 5′ rGrCrGrArGrGrGrArGrTrCrArGrGrCrArArG 3′ (SEQ ID NO: 3). In the 5′ligtagRNA adaptor (r letter indicates RNA bases) is designed for ligation to the 5′end of RNA through phosphorylation of the 5′end of RNA and ligation to the 5′ligtag using single-stranded RNA ligase I. An alternative adaptor rUrArCrArCrGrArCrGrCrUrCrUrUrCrCrGrArUrCrU (SEQ ID NO: 4) sequence primed by 2Puniversal (used for DNA amplification) can also be used for amplification of RNA and DNA with the same primer. The 5′adaptor is converted into cDNA during reverse transcription and is amplified during library amplification using a 5′ligtag primer:
TCTTCCGATCT
GCGAGGGAGTCAGGCAAG 3′
The highlighted regions on RPM have the following functions: The underlined sequence indicates the sequence of the 5′ligtag primer that amplifies the 3′end of the cDNA ligated with the 5′ligtag after the RNA has been reverse transcribed into cDNA. The bold sequence indicates the sequence of the 2P_universal adaptor that is used to amplify both the DNA and RNA for Illumina sequencing. It serves as the priming site for read 1 on during sequencing of the RNA and DNA molecules.\
Odd and Even Tags. Odd and Even tags are so named because the Odd tag is ligated 1st, 3rd, 5th etc. . . . during the SPRITE process and the Even tag is ligated 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc. . . . during SPRITE for however many rounds of tagging and pooling are completed. It is not necessary to ligate only an even number of tags or only an odd number of tags so long as there are two sets of Terminal tags; one that can ligate to Odd tags and one that can ligate to Even tags.
With reference to
Terminal Tag.
A terminal tag is shown in
Library Amplification.
The DPM adaptor is designed with a 3′ spacer to aid in final library amplification. If the 3′ spacer is absent, each strand will form a hairpin loop during the initial denaturation due to reverse complementarity of the sequences on either side of the target DNA molecule. Instead, the 3′ spacer allows the nucleotide tags to only ligate to the 5′end of each single-stranded DNA sequence, and not the 3′end, preventing these hairpin from forming.
Due to reverse complementarity of the sequences, only one primer amplifies the tagged DNA in the first PCR cycle. This First Primer anneals to a sequence in the DPM adaptor and extends, synthesizing two daughter strands with reverse sequences. This first primer serves as the Read1 primer during Illumina sequencing. To synthesize the complement, the Second Primer anneals to the daughter strand extended from the First Primer in the second PCR cycle.
The 2P_barcoded primer contains an 8 nucleotide barcode as underlined above within the primer. This barcode is read from the illumina sequencer during the indexing priming step. This barcode effectively serves as an additional round of tag addition during SPRITE. Dilution of the sample into multiple wells is performed at the final step of SPRITE prior to proteinase K elution from NHS beads. Each dilution of the sample prior to proteinase K elution isolates a subset of the tagged complexes into different wells. Each dilution of complexes are amplified with a different 2P_barcoded primer.
Both the First and Second primers are around 30 nucleotides each. Yet the sequences they anneal to initially are ˜20 nucleotides. For this reason, we set two different annealing temperatures during the final library PCR. The first annealing temperature is for the first four cycles until enough copies are made with fully extended primer regions. After these four cycles, the annealing temperature is raised for a remaining five cycles.
The 2P_universal primer and 2P_barcoded serve as the Read 1 and Read 2 primers for illumina sequencing, respectively. Read 1 sequences the DNA molecule and the DPM adaptor. Read 2 sequences the multiple tags, ie. unique barcode, ligated to the DNA molecules.
DPM and RPM primers for Quality-Control (QC) of DPM and RPM ligation.
The primers DPMQCprimerF, DPMQCprimerR, RPMQCprimerF, and RPMQprimerR are used to ensure that the DPM and RPM adaptor has been successfully ligated to DNA and RNA of the lysate, respectively.
If no libraries are obtained at this step after 14-16 cycles of PCR, it is likely that subsequent ligation of tags and amplification of tagged DNA and RNA during the SPRITE protocol will be unsuccessful.
The DPM Forward and Reverse primers amplify the top strand and bottom strand of the DPM adaptor, respectively. The RPM Forward and Reverse primers amplify the cDNA adaptor and bottom strand of the RPM adaptor, respectively.
Adaptor Annealing Program.
The following adaptors and tags are annealed to make the tags double-stranded adaptors for dsDNA adaptor ligation: DPM adaptors, Odd Nucleotide Tags (adaptors), Even Nucleotide Tags, and Terminal Tag adaptors.
Mix the top and bottom strands of each adaptor into a PCR tube or 96-well plate with 10× Annealing Buffer:
Incubate with the following conditions in a thermocycler for adapter annealing to denature any secondary structure within the top and bottom strands of each adaptor, then slowly cool to anneal each strand:
Split-Pool Recognition of Interactions by Tag Extension (SPRITE) and Library Preparation.
The SPRITE method provides each DNA, RNA, and/or protein complexes in the sample lysate with a unique nucleic acid barcode. When these complexes are de-crosslinked, the individual molecules that made up a single complex retain identical nucleotide tags or barcodes. These DNA libraries are sequenced on an Illumina Next-Generation sequencing platform and analyzed. Any DNA, RNA and/or protein molecules found to have the same barcode interact in-vivo.
In the examples shown here, the SPRITE method works by splitting into a 96-well plate a pooled sample of crosslinked lysate where DNA molecules are ligated to the DPM adaptor. Each well of the 96-well plate contains a unique tag (Odd) to which the DNA molecules are ligated. The ligation reactions are stopped, pooled, and split again into a new 96-well plate containing different, unique tags than the first (Even). If n rounds of tag ligation are performed, 96n unique barcodes are generated. We typically ligate 5 tags, creating over 8 billion unique barcodes. After all barcodes are ligated, the sample is split again into small m aliquots (100 wells of 1% aliquots up to 10 wells of 10% aliquots are typically used depending on the total material coupled) for PCR amplification. This final splitting of samples effectually sorts the DNA complexes once more, so that the chance that two different non-crosslinked complexes with the same barcode are amplified together is negligible. This last dilution into m wells effectively raises the number of unique tags to each molecule to m*96n. For example, if the sample is aliquoted into 1% aliquots, then over 815 billion unique barcodes are generated.
The first round of SPRITE was already completed with the ligation of 96 unique DPM adaptors (see Tables 3-5) that allow for the subsequent ligation of new barcodes. As disclosed herein, subsequent tag ligations are performed in the following order:
ODD Tag Ligation
EVEN Tag Ligation
ODD Tag Ligation
EVEN Tag Ligation
Terminal Tag Ligation
The give barcode ligations listed above are performed in the exact same manner with the only difference being the tag sequence. Thus, the following section will only detail one round of SPRITE.
SPRITE.
It is noted that RNAse inhibitor has been added to the simultaneous tagging of RNA and DNA protocol to prevent degradation of RNA during the tagging protocol.
Example ODD and EVEN nucleotide tag nucleotides are listed in Tables 6-9. Aliquot 200 uL of Instant Sticky End Ligase Master Mix into each well of a 12-well strip tube. Keep on ice until ready to use. Centrifuge the nucleotide tag stock plate before removing the foil seal. Aliquot 2.4 uL from the stock plate of barcodes (nucleotide tags) to a new low-bind 96-well plate. Be careful to ensure that there is no mixing between wells at any point of the process. Use a new pipette tip for each well. After transfer is complete, seal both plates with a new foil seal. Create a diluted M2 Buffer by mixing 1100 uL of M2 Buffer with 682 uL of H20 and 110 ul of RNase Inhibitor.
Accounting for bead volume, add the M2+H20+RNase Inhibitor mix to the beads to achieve a final volume of 1700 uL. Ensure that the beads are equally suspended in the buffer. Aliquot 140 uL of the bead mix into each well of a 12-well strip tube. Centrifuge the 96-well plate containing the aliquoted barcodes, and then remove the foil seal. Aliquot 17.6 uL of beads into each well of the 96-well plate that contains 2.4 uL of the tags. Be careful to ensure that there is no mixing between wells at any point of the process. Use a new pipette tip for each well. Also be careful to ensure that there are no beads remaining in the pipette tip. Carefully add any remaining beads to individual wells on the plate in 1 uL aliquots. Aliquot 20 uL of Instant Sticky End Ligase Master Mix into each well, mixing by pipetting up and down 10 times. Be careful to ensure that there is no mixing between wells at any point of the process. Use a new pipette tip for each well.
The final reaction components and volumes for each well should be as follows:
Seal the plate with a foil seal and incubate on a thermomixer for 60 minutes at 20 C, shaking for 15 seconds at 1600 RPM every minute. After incubation, centrifuge the plate before removing the foil seal. Pour RLT++ Buffer into a sterile plastic reservoir, and transfer 100 uL of RLT++ into each well on the 96-well plate to stop the ligation reactions. It is not necessary to use new tips for each well. Pool all 96 stopped ligation reactions into a second sterile plastic reservoir. Place a 15 mL conical tube on an appropriately sized magnetic rack and transfer the pool into the conical. Capture all beads on the magnet, disposing all RLT++ in an appropriate waste receptacle. Remove the 15 mL conical containing the beads from the magnet and resuspend beads in 1 mL PBLSD+ Wash Buffer. Transfer the bead solution to a microcentrifuge tube. Wash three times with PBLSD+ Wash Buffer at 50 C, 1200 RPM for 3 minutes each time.
Wash three times with M2 Buffer. Repeat the process starting at Step 1 for the remaining four or more SPRITE rounds.
Library Preparation.
Resuspend the beads in MyRNK Buffer so that the final beads+buffer volume is 1 mL. Remove five aliquots into clean microcentrifuge tubes: 0.5%, 1%, 2.5%, 5%, and 7.5% (5 uL, 10 uL, 25 uL, 50 uL, and 75 uL) and elute the barcoded DNA and RNA from the beads.
Incubate at 65 C overnight. Place the microcentrifuge tubes on a magnet and capture the beads. Remove the flowthrough that contains the barcoded DNA and RNA and place in a clean microcentrifuge tube. Pipette 25 uL of H20 into the tube containing the beads. Vortex, and re-capture the beads. Remove the 25 uL of H20 that now contains any residual nucleic acid and add to the new sample tube. Discard the beads.
Follow the protocol provided in the DNA Clean and Concentrator-5 Kit, binding in 6 volumes of DNA Binding Buffer. Elute in 56 uL of H20.
Convert RNA into cDNA by reverse transcriptase, as detailed above. Follow the protocol provided in the DNA Clean and Concentrator-5 Kit, binding in 6 volumes of DNA Binding Buffer. Elute in 40 uL of H20. Amplify the final barcoded DNA and cDNA through PCR. The First Primer is a mix of 2P_Universal and 2P_Universal_5′LigTag to amplify both tagged DNA and RNA molecules, respectively. The Second Primer is 2P_Barcoded. Examples of unique primers are listed in Table 10. Before placing the reaction in the thermocycler, split the sample in in to two tubes with 50 uL in each tube.
PCR Program:
Clean the PCR reaction and size select for your target libraries. The total length of our barcode on one amplified product is around 160 base pairs and each target DNA molecules no less than 100 base pairs. Agencourt AMPure XP beads are able to size select while cleaning the PCR reaction of unwanted products.
Combine the two 50 uL PCR reactions back into one tube. Add 0.7×AMPure XP beads to the sample for a total volume of 170 uL and mix thoroughly. Incubate for 10 minutes at room temperature, mixing again at 5 minutes. Place the beads on an appropriately sized magnet to capture the beads and the bound DNA. Wait a few minutes until all the beads are captured. Remove the supernatant and discard. Wash beads twice with 70% ethanol by pipetting ethanol into the tube while beads are captured, moving the tube to the opposite side of the magnet so that beads pass through the ethanol, and then removing the ethanol solution. Quickly spin down the beads in a microcentrifuge, re-capture on magnet, and remove any remaining ethanol. Air-dry beads while the tube is on the magnet. Elute the amplified DNA from the beads by resuspending the beads in 100 uL of H20. Place the solution back on the magnet to capture the beads. Remove the eluted amplified DNA to a clean microcentrifuge tube. Repeat the clean up with 0.7×AMPure XP beads, eluting finally in 12 uL.
Determine the concentration of each library with the Qubit Fluorometer. The final libraries disclosed here are generally between 0.5 ng/uL and 1.5 ng/uL.
Load all samples on the Agilent BioAnalyzer, following the protocol provided with Agilent's High Sensitivity dsDNA Kit. Final library sizes range from around 260 base pairs to 1000 base pairs with peaks around 400 base pairs.
Using the concentrations gathered from Qubit and the average library size gathered from the BioAnalyzer, estimate the number of DNA molecules in each library. These numbers are used to determine the microliter amount to be sequenced.
Sequencing and Data Analysis.
The Illumina, Inc. HiSeq v2500 platform was employed for next generation sequencing of the generated libraries using a TruSeq Rapid SBS v1 Kit-HS (200 cycle) and TruSeq Rapid Paired End Cluster Kit-HS. All SPRITE data disclosed was generated using Illumina paired-end sequencing. Reads must be long enough to incorporate all tag information. Most read-pairs in this disclosure were (115 bp, 100 bp).
Tag Identification.
This step is performed using custom in-house software. The program takes as input both FASTQ files, sorted by name so that the record with a particular line number in the read 1 file corresponds with the record with the same line number in the read 2 file. The program also requires a text file containing the tag sequences with unique identifiers and an identification tolerance—the number of mismatches tolerated between the tag and the read when search for the tag.
The program first loads the tags from the tag file and stores them in a hashtable keyed by sequence. Storing these sequences in a hashtable allows rapid (O(1)) string matching. Additional tags are generated according to the given identification tolerances, and these are also stored. For example, if the tag TTTT has an identification tolerance of 1, the tag will be inserted into the table, keyed by all sequences at most one Hamming distance away:
TTTT
ATTT
TATT
TTAT
TTTA
CTTT
TCTT
TTCT
TTTC
GTTT
TGTT
TTGT
TTTG
NTTT
TNTT
TTNT
TTTN
After storing the tags, the program iterates through the read-pairs by advancing line-by-line through both FASTQ files simultaneously. For a given sequence, the program queries the hash table for substrings that correspond to known tag positions. (The exact details of this process depend on the barcoding scheme.) After the identification process for a record is complete, the tags are appended to the name of the record, and this modified record is output into new read 1 and read 2 FASTQ files.
Alignment.
In our barcoding schemes, only one of the reads in a read pair contains an appreciable amount of genomic sequence. These genomic-reads are aligned to the appropriate reference with Bowtie2 under the default parameters—except for the following. Only one of the two FASTQ files is aligned. A paired-end alignment is not run despite having paired-end reads. Before the genomic sequence on the read is an 11-mer DPM tag sequence. To account for this, a Bowtie2 with ‘--trim5 11’ is run.
After the sequence, there are two possibilities. The read may extend into the tag sequences on the other end of the fragment if the fragment is too short, or the read may terminate before the tags if the fragment is long enough. To account for the inclusion of tag sequences, a Bowtie2 with ‘--local’ was run. This also addresses the DPM tag at the start of the sequence. Alignment is made to both the reference chromosomes and unplaced scaffolds (typically end in “random”).
The resulting SAM file is sorted and convert it to a BAM file. The names of each SAM record contain the identified tags, as these were present in the input FASTQ files.
Filtration.
The BAM file is then passed through successive filtration steps: Remove all alignments with a MAPQ score less than 30. This removes all unmapped reads. Note that the MAPQ score depends on the aligner used; it is not standardized. If a different aligner is used, this step will need to be replaced with a different quality-filtration step. Remove all alignments that align to the reference with a Hamming score >2. In these examples, only two mismatches were tolerated at most between the read and the reference. Remove all alignments that overlap (in any amount) any region in the repeat-mask BED file provided by B. Tabak. Bedtools intersect with the ‘−v’ flag set were used.
Remove all alignments that overlap (in any amount) any region in the mask BED file generated by ComputeGenomeMask in the GATK package from the Broad. This mask file was generated by shredding the reference into 35-mers and BLASTting them against the reference. Any non-unique location that a 35-mer maps to is masked. The output of ComputeGenomeMask is not a BED file, but a FASTA file where all masked bases are represented with Os, and all unmasked bases are represented with 1 s. This mask file is converted to a BED file with a custom Python script.
Subsequence Post-Processing.
See the Github page.
https://github.com/GuttmanLab/barcoding-post/wiki
While the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that various modifications and changes may be made to the described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined in the following claims.
The present application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/311,813 filed on Mar. 22, 2016, entitled “Mapping High-Dimensional Macromolecular Interactions in Cells,” the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This invention was made with government support under Grant No. OD012190 and HL130007 awarded by the National Institutes of Health. The government has certain rights in the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62311813 | Mar 2016 | US |
