4.2@ Simple DNA extraction for PCR screening

Yoshikatsu Sato and Tomoaki Nishiyama

 

Introduction

Schween et al. (2002) reported a simple PCR method to detect transgene from transformed P. patens. They incubated moss tissue in an extraction buffer similar to PCR buffer. Extraction in 10 x PCR buffer works as well, and more than 5 kb can be amplified with LA Taq (Takara) DNA polymerase (Personal communication from Dr. K. Takechi at Kumamoto University).

 

Schween et al. (2002) reported that they could amplify PCR fragments with template DNA extracted from moss grown on minimal medium, which do not contain ammonium tartrate and glucose, but not from full medium, which contain ammonium tartrate and glucose unless PVP was added to the PCR reaction. Young colony within 1 week after inoculation is the best material (Takechi personal com.). This method is even simpler than the simplified CTAB method, and yet sufficient for screening of single copy targeted lines. Here, we would describe our simplest protocol with successful results for screening the targeted lines of single copy insertion. Note that further simplification may be possible.

 

Procedure

1. Use young colony within 1 week after inoculation.

2. Dispense 30 µl of 10 x PCR buffer (100 mM Tris [pH 8.4], 500 mM KCl, 15 mM MgCl2) to a 96-well plate.

3. Pick up a colony with a toothpick. Remove as much agar as possible

4. Absorb excess water with a paper towel (kim service paper towel)

5. Squash the tissue in the buffer with the toothpick

6. Freeze with liquid nitrogen and allow to thaw

7. Second freeze thaw cycle

8. Incubate at 68˚C for 10 min

9. Centrifuge at 5000 rpm for 5 min at room temperature

10. Prepare the PCR mix excluding PCR buffer: 14.3 µl H2O, 1.6 µl 2.5mM dNTP, 1 µl each of 10 µM primers, and 0.10 µl of DNA polymerase (50:1 mixture of recombinant Taq DNA polymerase and KOD plus DNA polymerase) per tube

11. Add 2µl of the extracted DNA: As the DNA is extracted in 10 x PCR buffer, the amount should be exactly one tenth of the reaction volume

12. Start PCR with an appropriate cycle: ex. 94˚C 2 min pre PCR; 35 cycles of 94˚C 20 sec, 58˚C 20 sec (annealing), 68˚C 8 min (1 min /(expected target length/kb)); 68˚C 7 min

 

 

Results

20 out of 24 lines showed amplification product either indicating 5' integration or multicopy insertion in an experiment. 5' integration was 1.4 kb product, multicopy test yielded product up to 3.5 kb. These lengths are longer than the 0.5 kb product reported by Schween et al.(2002).

 

Comments

No PCR product in multicopy test and clear signal in 5' integration test indicate a high possibility of single copy targeting event. (In this case 5' homologous region was shorter than 3' homologous region).

 

When very young plants are used, PVP nor spermidine is not necessary, even if they were grown on a medium containing ammonium tartrate and glucose.

 

We have not tested if the freeze-thaw cycles improved the extraction efficiency, or if freeze-thaw is sufficient without incubation at 68˚C. The minimum incubation time for 68˚C incubation was not investigated.

 

References

Schween, G., S. Fleig, and R. Reski. 2002. High-throughput-PCR screen of 15,000 transgenic Physcomitrella plants. Plant Mol. Biol. Rep. 20:43-47.