Methods 3 Flashcards

1
Q

What sequencing technology will you use to confirm that the mutant maize seed stock you got from another lab harbors the mutation of interest? What will you need to do to sequence?

A

Sanger

You know what you would expect to see, you would design primers up and downstream from the mutation (within 70 - 100 or 500 bp away), pcr amplify, sequence with sanger because you only have to sequence that particular amplified strand (not the whole genome), also sanger has the advantage over short-read sequencing technologies (like Illumina) in that it can produce DNA sequence reads of > 500 nucleotides and maintains a very low error rate with accuracies around 99.99%.

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2
Q

What sequencing technology will you choose to identify mutations in a patient’s tumor? What steps will be involved?

A

PacBio and Illumina combo

As there are many possible mutants that could be present you need to do full genome sequencing (next gen/2nd gen). PacBio (SMRT) provides very long reads (10-25kb) so you can use it to id chromosomal rearrangements, but it is low fidelity (85-95%) and sample throughput is lower than Illumina sequencing platforms. Illumina has short reads but are more accurate and is very fast as sequences in parallel, you can fit the sequence back together using pacbio reads too.

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3
Q

What sequencing technology will you select to identify genetic differences between two different populations of mice of a species for which a good-quality reference genome is available? What steps will be required?

A

Illumina

fragment, add adaptors, end repair, DNA amp, sequence.

if no reference genome is available use pacbio to make it easier to assemble contiguos sequences

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4
Q

Why do you think Illumina sequencing alone is typically NOT enough to generate a reference genome of a new species?

A

illumina gives sequence quality, pacbio gives larger arrangements

illumina is high coverage and confirms sequences from pacbio

often repetitive regions are hard to sequence/are ambiguous (so pacbio is good with repetitive sequences)

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5
Q

why does sanger require two PCR reactions?

A

one for the forward primer and another for the reverse primer

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6
Q

what 2 DNA sequencing technologies are good for repetetive reads

A

pacbio and oxford nanopore

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7
Q

________ sequencing is needed to build a reference genome

A

long-read (pacbio)

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8
Q

explain oxford nanopore

A

A protein unzips the DNA helix into two strands

A single strand of DNA is threaded through a tiny protein pore in a synthetic membrane

An electric current flows through the pore

Different DNA bases disrupt the current in different ways

The machine measures the current and interprets the sequence (aka “squiggles”)

Drawbacks: higher error rates and lower throughput

Pluses: portability and ease of use; can also sequence RNA

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9
Q

explain the adaptors used in oxford nanopore

A

DNA fragments are ligated to two adapters: a Y-shaped “leader” adapter and a stem-loop “hairpin” adapter

Adapters direct the DNA fragments to the pores by binding to tethering oligos with affinity for the polymer membrane

Adapters are preloaded with ‘motor proteins’ that enable the threading of adapted 5’ end through the pore

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10
Q

how many bp reads does oxford nanopore do?

A

A MinION flowcell contains 512 channels (4 pores each) that thread 512 DNA molecules at once

10-100kb and 100-300kb sequencing modes are available (with a 4Mb read being the record)

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11
Q

what is a reporter gene

A

Reporters are genes that are used in molecular biology to monitor expression of genes of interest (GOI)

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12
Q

where are reporters fused

A

Reporters are fused to promoters, gene fragments or entire GOI and their activity is assayed/analyzed

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13
Q

what does luciferase emit and what DNA sequencing is it method is it used in

A

photons

454 pyrosequencing

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14
Q

example of two reporter genes that convert colorless substrate to blue and name the substrates

A

gus (gluc) and lacz (x-gal)

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15
Q

explain a transcriptional reporter gene fusion

A

the reporter gene is fused directly next to the promotor

tells you where the gene is transcribed, GFP only be expressed in tissues at time of transcription

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16
Q

explain a translational reporter gene fusion

A

the reporter gene is fused to the open reading frame so GFP is incorporated into the protein, tells you only when a protein is translated and tells you where that protein resides

17
Q

How to test if a reporter fusion protein has perturbed function?

A

knockout then expression of fusion protein to see if function is restored

terminal fusions are common but if function is perturbed must go inside the structure, algorithms can be used to find where.

18
Q

What type of a reporter (transcriptional or translational) will you use to study:

Tissue-specific pattern of expression of a gene of interest

A

do both and compare to know if expression and translation occur in the same tissue/place

19
Q

What type of a reporter (transcriptional or translational) will you use to study:

Subcellular localization of the protein of interest

A

translation (you want to know where the protein goes)

20
Q

What type of a reporter (transcriptional or translational) will you use to study:

“Inducibility” by heat shock of the gene of interest?

A

either depending on if you’re interested in studying it at an expression level or translational level

21
Q

What type of a reporter (transcriptional or translational) will you use to study:

Protein movement

A

you need both to understand if the protein is moving from where it is transcribed

22
Q

What type of a reporter (transcriptional or translational) will you use to study:

Regulation of translation by nutrient deprivation

A

both because nutrient deprivation could be impacting both

23
Q

what is northern blot analysis useful for?

A

to study expression (levels and patterns) of the genes of interest by blotting RNA and hybridizing with radio/fluorescently labeled DNA probes, a housekeeping gene is used for normalization

24
Q

what is in situ hybridization

A

A hybridization-based method that enables detection and localization of endogenous mRNAs at cellular level

Gene-specific probes (cDNA or, more commonly, cRNA) are labeled (radioactively (A), fluorescently (B) or using base modifications such as digoxygenin (C)) and hybridized to fixed permeabilized tissue sections or entire small organs/organisms

Probe hybridization is detected using autoradiography (A), fluorescence microscopy (B) or immunohistochemistry (C)

25
Q

explain DIG method of in situ hybridization

A

The digoxygenin (DIG) can be synthetically linked to the C-5 position of uridine nucleotides

The DIG-labeled nucleotides are incorporated into gene-specific RNA probes

Hybridized DIG-labeled probes are then detected with high-affinity anti-DIG antibodies conjugated to an enzyme (e.g., alkaline phosphatase) or a fluorescent dye

26
Q

explain DNA Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH)

A

(the colorful pictures of chromosomes)

(occasionally used for RNA)

cytogenetic technique for the detection and localization of specific DNA sequences on chromosomes

FISH uses fluorescent DNA probes that bind to specific chromosomal regions with high degree of sequence similarity to the probe

used to investigate chromosomal abnormalities