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8/22/14
Summary: PCR for Pyromark (50uL reactions for sequencing)
Procedure:
external image photo_%2838%29.JPG-20140822-134831.jpg

Next step:
Run 5uL of PCR on gel to confirm presence of band at ~300bp
Submit all 18 samples, sequencing primers and sample submission paperwork to Cassie at Fred Hutch

7/24/14
Summary: PCR for Pyromark to determine if primers can amplify unconverted DNA
Procedure:
Results
external image 072414.JPG-20140728-121134.jpg
The 733 primers amplify both bisulfite converted and non-bisulfite converted DNA. The 748 primers still not showing much amplification. The 44098 primers can also amplify converted and non-converted DNA. Here though, the amplification is almost not present for either 28 sample, but there is amplification for the 29 sample (both bisulfite and non). I should have run this gel out longer to get the separation between the band and the primer dimer (seen in the blank and oyster 28 lanes)

07/09/14-7/10/14
Summary: PCRs for Pyromark
Procedure:
used previously optimized PCR conditions for primers 733 (56C anneal/3.0mM MgCl2), 748 and 44098 (50C anneal/1.5mM MgCl2)
Mmix prep info here:
http://eagle.fish.washington.edu/bivalvia/070914bisulfite.pdf
Samples were stored at 4C overnight. On 7/10/14, 20uL were loaded into sequencing plate for the Hutch and 5uL were used for running the gel.
Gel Image:
The ladder is a 100bp ladder. The band is very bright for the 733 primers. The band is fainter for the 748 primer and is also subdued by being right underneath the dye front. The 44098 primer gives a good band for sample Ev2.20 and Ev2.29, but the other samples' bands are pretty faint and slightly smaller? than the others.

Gel labeling top of bar: sample number (e.g. 16 = Ev2.16, etc.) The 100% methylated control is labeled with "+" and the blank is labeled "B"
external image 071014.JPG-20140710-123332.jpg
Next steps: Take 20uL of PCR product and 100uL of 10uM sequencing primer to Cassie at the Hutch.

7/2/14
Summary: Repeat PCR from 6/27/14. NOTE: Used different sample only -> Ev2.24 (@130.37ng/ul) prepped at 40ng/uL dilution with 3.06uL of DNA with 6.9uL H20 then did 1:2 serial dilutions to 10ng/uL
Results:
I am happy with the results from the 748 primers. I don't think the starting template amount makes a lot of difference, so will use the 20ng going forward. The 44098 primers are still behaving weirdly. The blank has a faint band that is between 100-200 bp. Since all the reagents are the same in both master mixes, I might assume that the band is from contamination in the primer? Something is definitely amplifying in the DNA wells, but it's smeary. I'll continue to run the gel out and see if it clears up at all. I think I can conclude that the PCR I ran last week did not include polymerase, meaning that the funny band in the 44098 wells was occurring anyway - maybe some kind of primer dimer/timer/... thing?
external image 070214.JPG-20140702-142840.jpg
same gel, run out an hour longer (yes, it was also dropped). Running it out longer helped separate out the primer band seen in the blank with the actual amplified bands. There may be a little bit of smearing above the main band?, but overall it looks good.
external image 070214b.JPG-20140702-155800.jpg
Summary/Next steps:
I will order the sequencing primer for all 3 primer pairs and run the PCRs at the optimal conditions for each primer pair. These samples will be sent to the Hutch for pyrosequencing.

6/27/14
Summary: Continued optimization of bisulfite primers (see 6/25/14 for most recent PCR)
Procedure:
Results:

NOTE: checked dilutions and realized I only loaded 20, 10, 5 and 2.5ng/reaction for this assay
No bands present in 748 lanes. Low MW band present in all reactions of 44098 - either contam or dimer. One thing I noticed on 7/214 when setting up the PCR is that I almost forgot to add the polymerase because I leave it in the freezer until I need it - maybe I forgot to add? Previous PCR with the 20ng condition produced a band, so something did not go well here. Will repeat and include higher DNA load.
external image 062714.JPG-20140702-101637.jpg


6/25/14
Summary: continued to optimize bisulfite primers (see previous entries in 6/20/14 and 6/18/14 for results)
Procedure:
Results:
The band size are as expected 733 =251bp, 748=233bp, 44098=128bp. I am happy with the performance of the 733 primers. All anneal temps look similar so going forward I will use a 56C anneal for these primers. Primer 748 is showing weak bands at both MgCl2 concentrations. In order to ensure the template isn't inhibiting the reaction I will do a dilution of the DNA and run the 50C anneal temp at 1.5mM MgCl2. The 44098 primers are show a very light smear in the region of 128 bp. I will perform a similar dilution series of template at 50C anneal as well to try to improve this.
external image iPhoto-20140626-102645.jpg


6/20/14
Summary: a) ran PCRs from 6/19/14 on gel, b) bisulfite treated the EE2v2 samples to be used for the MBD-ChIP validation

a) Gel
Procedure:
Results:
Unfortunately the resolution on this gel is not as good as the last one. Not sure if it's because I only loaded 12uL instead of 20 or if it has something to do with the gel box or the way I ran it. The band size are as expected 733 =251bp, 748=233bp, 44098=128bp, but I can't tell if there is a single or multiple bands. I will use this gel to limit the temps and MgCl concentrations for one additional optimization assay. For the 733 primers I will repeat the 56, 58, 60 and 62C conditions with the 3.0 MgCl2 conc. For the 748 primers there are no real strong bands, so I'll try lowering the anneal temps. I think I'll try 1.5 and 3.0mM concentrations and do a gradient of 50 - 56C. For the 44098 primers I'll also try a few lower temps and repeat a few temps that showed stronger bands. So with the 1.5mM and 3.0mM concentrations I'll do a 50, 53, 55 and 56C temps.
external image IMG_0002.JPG-20140623-153350.jpg



b) Bisulfite Treatment
Procedure:
followed EpiTect procedure for: Sodium Bisulfite Conversion of Unmethylated Cytosines in DNA (except for sample Ev2.22 where I used the prep described in method for "Sodium Bisulfite Conversion of Unmethylated Cytosines in DNA from Solutions with Low Concentrations of DNA")
Volumes/Concentrations used:
external image 062014bisulfite.pdf_%281_page%29-20140623-155651.jpg
http://eagle.fish.washington.edu/bivalvia/skitch/062014bisulfite.pdf_%281_page%29-20140623-155651.jpg
Results:
Nice 260 peaks. The A260/A280 is really high for these samples. The exact same thing happened when I have done bisulfite treatment in the past. The blank was EB buffer from the EpiTect kit.
external image 062014.bmp-20140623-161446.jpg

external image 062014plots.bmp-20140623-161558.jpg

6/19/14
Summary: PCR optimization for PyroMark assays (bisulfite). Performed additional anneal temp for primers: CgBS_733_26796F/R (SRID: 1597,1596), and tried out primers CgBS_748_187112F/R (SRID: 1595/1594) and CgBS_44098_295365F/R (SRID: 1593/1592) for the first time.
Procedure:
http://eagle.fish.washington.edu/bivalvia/06192014qPCRlayout.pdf

6/18/14
Summary: ran the PCRs from 6/17/14 on a gel to look for PCR conditions that give single strong band
Procedure:
Results:
The band size is as expected @ 251bp. All of the conditions showed amplification with the exception of 1.5mM MgCl2 at 60C. Almost all of the PCRs show a faint band just above the major band. The 'best' condition is 30mM MgCl2 at 60C anneal temp, but I would like to take the anneal temp a little higher and try again. I'd also like to check with Cassie to see if I could gel purify the major band and submit that for sequencing. Next steps is running higher anneal temps with the 3.0mM MgCl2 condition and running the additional 2 primer pairs (also going for a wider range of temps for those as well).
external image iPhoto-20140618-155127.jpg

6/17/14
Summary: PCR optimization for PyroMark assays (bisulfite). Starting with just 1 primer pair and running 24 different conditions (anneal temps and MgCl2 conc.'s vary). Primers: CgBS_733_26796F/R (SRID: 1597,1596) note: reverse primer is biotinylated
Procedure:


6/16/14
Summary: prepare a 'positive control' DNA that is 100% methylated to use in Pyromark assays
Procedure:

3/28/14
Summary: Test gDNA isolation of early gonad sample with Qiagen kit (used day zero female "7.go")
Procedure:
Followed manufacturer's instructions (starting on page 28) of Qiagen DNeasy Protocol (Animal Tisues)
-starting material: 13mg (cut up)
-proK/ATL buffer overnight (4:20pm start, 10am stop - solution was not viscous)
-observed white precipitate when AL buffer was added, loaded all volume onto column
-eluted in 100uL EB 2x (combined elutions for a total volume of 200uL)
Results: There is strong absorbance at A230 (A260/A230 =1). A260/A280=1.86, concentration=93.4ng/uL
Conclusions/Next Steps: not sure if the carryover is ethanol or salt. If ethanol, I need to make sure the column is really dry prior to elution. If salt from the sample, probably not much I can do. I am concerned however about how it will affect the downstream application (bisulfite treatment).
Follow up: Sam ran another test sample (EE2v2.9go) on 4/2/14 and had a better A230. He used ~ 10mg starting tissue. The only differences we noted between procedures is he does all spin steps at max speed and does that final spin step for 10 instead of 3 minutes (protocol says to spin at 20g, but centrifuge only goes to 16g so he upped the time). Perhaps his protocol dries the column better and gets residual ethanol etc. off the column.

2/26/14
Summary: Testing RNA recovery using RNAeasy Plus Mini Kit take 2 (take 1 was done 2/25/14): Sonication and Qiashredder columns.
Procedure:
Following up from yesterday's failed procedure, I tried 3 different things today to optimize the protocol:
1. I could have 'too much' gDNA or RNA in sample, to not overload the columns I used the minimum amount of tissue 10mg and the maximum amount of tissue ~30 mg (27 mg) from a day 0 female.

2. I could have poor homogenization so I tried two different things
a) Qiashredder columns: This is one option for homogenization given in the manual. We have these columns (even though they're old: 2007) so I processed 2 samples (the 10mg and 27 mg samples). I disrupted the samples first with mortar and pestle then ran them through the column (max spin for 2 min). Sample was clear after column.

b) Sonication: Sonication is another option for homogenization given in the manual (even though they say specifically to use Qiagen's TissueRuptor, but we only have a regular old sonicator). I did one sonicated sample with 27mg of starting material (a second day 0 female) And did pulse sonication on ice - about 30, 1 second pulses. The sample was clear after sonication.

3. Perhaps there was not enough enough lysis buffer. Today I used 650ul of buffer (should have used 600 maximum, I didn't read it well enough and used 650uL instead).

Then I followed the protocol the same way I did on 2/25/14 except the RNA column step was performed twice since only 700uL of lysate can be placed on the column at a time.

Results:
Neither the 10mg or 27mg Qiashredder'ed samples showed any RNA recovery (eluted in 30uL H2O)
The sonicated 27mg sample showed some recovery with a very small peak at A260. The sample was reported to contain 11ng/uL RNA (330ng total). This should be enough for an RNA-Seq library even if this quantitation isn't accurate because the concentration is too low for Nanodrop to read accurately. The sequencing lab said they have made successful libraries with 50 -100ng of RNA.

Conclusions/Next Steps
The RNA yield is low compared to what the manual states is possible with this kit (minimum of 4ug of recovery). I am not sure if the issue is with the tissue type? I almost want to try the process one time with a gill tissue sample, where we know we get good RNA recovery, and see what the results look like.

In terms of being ready to run my real samples, I am still a little hesitant. I think I have less than 27 mg for most of these samples - probably closer to 15mg for most samples, which may not result in enough RNA.

2/25/14
Summary: Test RNA recovery in the tiny EE2 day 7 gonad samples I have. Using 1 female samples and trying out the RNeasy Plus Mini Kit
No recovered RNA from this test.
Procedure:
Conclusion/Next steps
The troubleshooting section of the manual says a few things could be happening here: 1) not enough disruption - try using the sonicator for 30s, 2) reduce the amount of starting tissue OR add more lysis buffer. Too much RNA can clog the column, I am using 1/2 of the maximum amount of tissue, so I don't really think using less is a good idea. I could increase the lysis buffer volume. The instructions say 350-600uL and I used the minimum. Maybe this would help with that weird thin layer I saw after centrifuging the disrupted tissue and Buffer RLT plus.

7/26/13
Summary: purify gDNA (i.e. improve A260/A230 ratio) using Qiagen MinElute Kit samples for control and EE2 treated pools for use in microarray.
Procedure: starting w/ gDNA from 7/21/13
Results:
The A260/A230s are much improved (1.9), the A260/A280s are still good = 1.8 - 1.9
Total DNA for the control sample: 54.04 x 9.1uL recovered = 492ng
Total DNA for the treated sample: 56.34 x 10uL recovered = 563ng
external image 072613.bmp.jpg
external image 072613plot.bmp.jpg

Conclusion/Next steps:
The kit worked to improve the A260/A230 ratio. The total DNA recovered is at the low end of what is acceptable for labeling. I will send Cassie at FH this information and see what she says about doing any QC for these samples.

7/21/13
Summary: complete EtOh precipitation from 7/19/13
Procedure: spin max at RT 15min, wash 2x in cold 70% EtOH (spin 5min and remove wash), resuspend DNA in 12uL EB buffer (Qiagen). Quant on Nanodrop
Results:
external image 072213nano.bmp%20(2%20documents,%202%20total%20pages).jpg
external image 072213nanoplot.bmp%20(2%20documents,%202%20total%20pages).jpg

Conc. Next Steps:
It appears that the DNA was still in one of the wash steps/or binding buffer. Bad news is that the A260/A230 is still low. Ordered MinElute kits to try to purify the sample. Threw away the remaining kit supplies from the Zymo Research sample kit

7/19/13
Summary: attempt to cleanup DNA to reduce A230 reading from control and treated EE2v2 pools - no DNA in eluate, attempt to precipiate DNA from washes/binding buffer
Background: these are the input v input fragmented DNA pools from EE2 treated and control individuals (n=3/pool). This material went into the MBD procedure and the methylated fractions were generated from this material. I am trying to improve the A260A230 ratio prior to labeling for the microarray
Procedure: Used the Zymo Research DNA Clean and Concentrate Kit (we had an unopened sample box in the lab)
Next steps: complete the EtOH precipitation


7/2/13
Summary: initiated DNA isolation for EE2v2 sample #22 (day 7 female, EE2 treated). Need additional DNA to make pool for the 'input v input' array assay.

7/1/13
Summary: pos control PCR from MBD procedure 6/28/13, and EtOH non-captured fraction from the control sample and captured wash fractions from the EE2 treated and control samples
Procedure:
Results:
PCR (gel)
The methylated DNA spiked into the pos control sample was present in the captured ('cap') fraction as expected indicating the methylated DNA has been fractionated out. There is a faint band for the nonmethylated spike in the non-captured fraction. It was expected that this band would be much brighter, however, since the non-methylated DNA is NOT in the captured fraction, it's ok that the the band is faint.
external image 070113gelimage.jpg
Spec of non-captured and wash fractions:
The wash fractions did not have a peak at A260 therefore the samples will not be pooled with the captured material. Overall, there was very little recovery in the washes, most of the DNA is recovered in the original capture step with the high salt elution.

Total recovery for the MBD control sample:
Input: 16ug
Noncaptured: 68.79ng/uL x 180uL = 12.4ug
Captured: 0.947ug
Total yield: (12.4ug + 0.947ug)/16ug * 100 = 83% recovery ~ this is within the range of previous recoveries, again the % DNA recovered in the methylated fraction is less than what is usually found: 7% here, previously found 18-22% of recovered DNA in the methylated fraction. Perhaps the female gonad samples are less methylated than the gill tissue?
external image 070113nanodrop.bmp.jpg


6/29/13
Summary: ethanol precipitation of pos controls and EE2 treatment and control samples (initiated 6/28/13)
Procedure:
Results:
external image 062913nanodrop.bmp.jpg

Conc./Next Steps:
Minimally, I needed 1ug to do the labeling for the MBD-Chip. I will have enough to do the labeling, but not enough to QC the sample (size/concentration check) first so it will be kinda risky. One way to do a little QC is to send plenty of DNA for the unenriched 'input v. input' samples, which is the same pooled DNA prior to enrichment.

Next: Run the pos control PCR for the MBD procedure and precipitate the non-captured fraction for at least one of the sample to look at total recovery from the procedure.

6/28/13
Summary: MBD repeat of 6/19/13 - EE2 treatment and control sample
Procedure:
Next Steps: Complete EtOH precipitation, quantitation and perform PCR for pos control


6/26/13
Summary: fragmenting DNA for MBD (processing additional DNA from samples 6/11/13 to supplement the remaining DNA)
Procedure:
Next steps: will use all of the EE2 DNA and 14.7ug of the control DNA in the MethylMiner procedure. NOTE: troubleshooting procedure in manual says to use 2uL of glycogen in the EtOH precip stage to increase pellet visibility.

6/20/13
Summary: complete EtOH precipitation of MBD fractions initiated 6/19/13
Procedure:
Results:
external image 062013nanodrop.bmp.jpg
external image 062013gel.jpg
Conclusions/Next steps:

6/19/13
Summary: Methylation enrichment of Ev2 samples (pooled EE2 treated and control gonad samples (n=3 each))
Procedure:
Next Steps: Complete EtOH precipitation, quantitation and perform PCR for pos control

6/14/13
Summary: Testing MBD kit by running the control (day 2 of 2)
Procedure: PCR of control DNA using primers specific to the control methylated and non-methylated DNA spikes
Results:
external image 061413gel.jpg.jpg

Conclusions & Next steps:
The results are as expected. The non-captured and wash fractions amplified with the non-methylated primers and the captured fraction amplified with the methylated primers. The next step is to process my samples early next week. I'll need to check before I start and make sure there is sufficient reagents to process 40ug of DNA.

6/13/13
Summary: Testing MBD kit by running the control (day 1 of 2)
Procedure: followed the MethylKit protocol for running the control sample only (DNA provided from kit with methylated and non-methylated DNA spiked in). Stored captured and non-captured fragments @-20C
Next steps: PCR for the methylated and non-methylated DNA. If all goes well will MBD my samples on Monday.

6/11/13
Summary: pooled gDNA from Ev2 isolations on 6/3/13 and sheared pooled DNA
Procedure:
external image 061113gel.jpg
Conclusion: most of the DNA is between 500 - 50bp, but a majority of it is between 200-300bp. I think this is ok because Cassie at the hutch says: 'Yes, 500bp is fine…we just want the majority of your sample to be greater than 200bp.' Next step is MBD, but since Claire is having issues with the control samples, I will run the controls myself first to help her troubleshoot and make sure everything is working ok before I run the protocol with my samples.

6/3/13-6/4/13
Summary: gDNA isolation Ev2 day 7 female gonad samples
Procedure:
Results:
external image 060213NANODROP.bmp.jpg


3/29/13
Summary: Ev2 update - sampling 3/25/13/3/26/13

3/19/13-3/21/13
Summary: isolation and shipment of DNA samples from F1 of vinclozolin treated and control parents to Nanostring. 8 Samples total.
Procedure:

032013.BMP.jpg

3/20/13
Summary: Ev2 update
external image photo.JPG


2/1/13
Summary: sampled 1 week time-point for Ev2
Procedure:

1/31/13
Summary: shipped T=0 histology samples for Ev2 (see 1/25/13)

1/30/13
Summary: completed DNA isolation from 1/29/13 - note: going to repeat samples with less starting tissue, max amount of tissue resulted in super viscous solution that was not acceptable for downstream steps.



1/29/13
Summary: DNA isolation from male gonad tissue from the vinclozolin F1's
Procedure:


1/25/13
Summary: initiated 'Ev2' trial, EE2 exposure
Procedure:



12/19/12
Summary: Sampled F1 generation of vinclozolin exposed oysters and control oysters
Procedure

10/23/12
Summary: took a few oyster samples during FISH441 lab today to have in the freezer. C.gigas gonad samples (male and female) and O.lurida samples gill and gonad. The Olys had been exposed to an acute heat shock 40C for 1hr. When sex could be determined it was written on the top of the tube. These samples are stored in the top shelf of the -80 in 'Mac's -80C' box.

9/5/12
Summary: run remaining PCR product from samples analyzed 8/29/12 on gel
external image 20120906-1n9bc2i4t8e489m92ys66pqnr6.jpg

same gel closer up:
external image 20120906-8ipgqsmsccsu3myga9419yuj9g.jpgexternal image 20120906-medj5dnckse5gy678pckc6inht.jpg

8/29/12
Summary: ABI3730 run at Manchester
Procedure: 1uL of PCR product was loaded into wells containing mastermix of LIZ500 size standard and Hi-Di formamide.
Plate layout: row A: primer set 1, row B: primer set 2 etc.. through G, row H: no template; column 1: Blanks, column 3: 152M, column 5: 152H, column 7: 91M, column9: 91H, column 11: no template

8/28/12
Summary: perform pre-select and select PCR (using FAM labeled primers) for test run of MSAP on ABI sequencer
Procedure: 1) perform pre-select PCR (2 samples: 91 (control) and 152 (EE2 tx)), cycling params: 'PRESELECT' 2) dilute pre-select product, 3) select PCR using FAM labeled Eco primers, cycling parameters: 'TD/56C'. See deets here:
http://eagle.fish.washington.edu/trilobite/Sites_genefish_100112/Mac/082812%20procedure_01.jpg

8/25/12
Summary: MSAP select PCR - testing amplification after pre-select PCR using Amplitaq
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20120825-bpj1wgx24636dh6qxiiuma28ay.jpg

The pre-select PCR using AmpliTaq polymerase does amplify bands even though a smear was not observed on a gel run previously (8/7/12). If you compare the banding pattern between the + control (Apex) and the Amplitaq (can only do this for the HpaII ("H") samples), it appears that most of the bands are similar, but they are of different intensities and some bands are observable using the Amplitaq that were not observed using the Apex. Because the AmpliTaq is a higher quality polymerase, I think going forward will give more reproducible results than with the Apex. There is a single band that amplified when the blank from the pre-select PCR was used as template. Oddly, the same size band was not observed in any of the samples. Possibly there was contamination after the PCR was performed and prior to running the select PCR? The select PCR blank was clean. Of note, the Hpa bands are more clear than the Msp bands for this particular primer set. The Msp lanes still show some high background.

8/21/12
Summary: MSAP pre-select PCR with Amplitaq (3.5mM MgCl)
Procedure: performed pre-select PCR using sample 91 (both H and M dig-lig). Previously (8/7/12), the pre-select PCR using Amplitaq did not show up as a smear on the gel. In order to see if amplification had occurred I needed to repeat the pre-select here and then add this product as template to the select PCR. An aliquot of PCR product was used to prepare a 1:20 dilution (in H20) and all samples were frozen at -20C.

8/7/12
Summary: run PCR products from 8/6/12 (see 'Next steps') on gel: MgCl2 titration using Amplitaq polymerase.
Results: This images shows the results of the Metaphor agarose gel (~2hr at 100V). First, I am having a really difficult time getting the comb out of the gel without breaking some of the wells (as evidenced by the overflow). Gel issues aside, the blanks are clean and amplification was observed using 3.5 mM and 4.5 mM MgCl2, but not 2.5mM MgCl2. The 3.5 mM MgCl2 lane shows the best resolution of bands and should be used going forward. The pre-select PCR's did not show an observable smear (not included in image below, loaded to right but all lanes are blank). Since I added loading dye to the entire pre-select PCR I will have to re-run to check and see if enough amplification occurred to get bands on the 2nd round of PCR. If I am able to do a test run tomorrow on the sequencer I will use the pre-select products generated 7/27/12 as template in the select PCR.
external image 20120809-x3dqxqta2urekpjcqs24b8bd7y.jpg

8/6/12
Summary: results of Amplitaq PCR from 8/3/12, troubleshooting Amplitaq results
Procedure:
Next steps: The 4.5mM MgCl concentration is high and too much salt can result in non-specific binding, so I would like to titrate the salt concentration using the Amplitaq polymerase: 2.5mM, 3.5mM and 4.5 mM. I will run both a pre-select and select (primer set 3) PCR using sample 153 Hpa to find the optimum salt concentration. Preparation of PCR's here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/am7jlckmwqsu9ui/PCR%20080712.jpg

8/3/12
Summary: Repeat select PCR from 8/2/12 that had contamination in blank reactions. Also include a few reactions using Platinum PCR Taq since I'm not sure if the Apex mmix would be good to put on sequences since it has dye in it.
Procedure:
Next steps: I need to stop using the Apex mmix since it is preloaded with dye (also, there are better polymerases than this one, which could also be contributing to smearing. I will re-optimize using the Amplitaq polymerase. This afternoon I set up a few reactions to test this:

Amplitaq PCRs
mmix components (per reaction): 2.5uL 10x PCR buffer 2, 2uL 10mM dNTP, 0.5uL each primer (10mM), 0.125uL AmpliTaq polymerase, 0.75uL 50mM MgCl, 13.6uL H20 (25uL reactions, 5uL template).

performing a select PCR (primer pair 3) with Amplitaq - TD PCR w/ 56C anneal
performing pre-select PCR (using sample 97H and 97M) - 1 batch with TD PCR w/ 56C anneal and 1 general preselect protocol with 20cycles at 56C (see MSAP protocol for additional details on parameters).

8/2/12
Summary: Optimizing MSAP PCR reactions to reduce background, using a subset of samples from 7/31/12-8/1/12. Using a touchdown PCR protocol and 2 different annealing temps for the general amplification
Procedure:

8/1/12
Summary: 1) Test run (PCR and gel separation) a few of the unlabeled MSAP primers with the samples prepared earlier this week (EE2 trial) 1) Run PCR products for testing vtg6 and DNMT primers (PCR 7/31/12) on gel.
Procedure:
Results:
agarose gel:
primer tests are on the left of the gel, MSAP samples on the right. Primer test samples are (left to right): 3 independent cDNA samples from dg/gonad, gDNA, blank. MSAP samples are (left to right per primer set): 91 Hpa, 91 Msp, 152 Hpa, 152 Msp
external image 20120802-fieg5saq65b2w1x9screrk2d5n.jpg
metaphorose gel
external image 20120802-r8srt6qt4g7r876t39wbu9bj3p.jpg
Conclusions/Next steps:
The vtg primers did not amplify any of the cDNA samples or the gDNA. These primers have been used in Dheilly et al 2012, so I would like to try this PCR again with gonad sample from a late stage female oyster. It's possible the primers are working, but vtg is not expressed in these samples. The DNMT primers amplified the expected size product for the cDNA. The primers do amplify genomic DNA, but it is a larger band indicating these primers span at least 1 intron. The MSAP samples had higher resolution using the metaphorose. There is still a lot of 'smearing' in the lanes. This could possibly be due to background from the first pre-select PCR? In general, the range of band sizes for these primers is quite large between 2000 and 100. It would be difficult to score these bands with the resolution here. Need to find out if these samples are suitable for CE.

7/31/12
Summary: test PCR primers for C.gigas vitellogenin6 and DNMT
Procedure:

7/27/12
Summary: perform pre-select PCR for MSAP procedure from 7/26/12 (oocyte DNA from EE2 treatment samples)
Procedure:


7/26/12
Summary: Initiate MSAP for C.gigas oocyte DNA from EE2 treatment samples
Procedure:

external image 20120727-8etudx39hgxbk15yd5qsw9spx1.jpg

7/25/12
Summary: complete DNA isolation from 7/24/12
Procedure:


7/24/12
Summary: initiate DNA isolation for 9 C.gigas gamete samples from EE2 trial, 35 day time-point
Procedure:

7/23/12
Summary: staging of gonadal development of 5 week time-point females from control and 500ng/L EE2
Staged 19 female oysters (11 EE2 @ 500ng/L, 8 control) using the staging of Steele and Mulcahy 1999. All but 1 of the oysters were either stage 2 or 3 (a single control oyster was a stage 1). A number of the stage 3 oysters I would like to note with an asterisk because there was some connective tissue remaining within the gonad tissue and some of the follicles had not coalesced. Nevertheless, in terms of this staging system, I would still give them a 3.

treatment
individual
stage
500ng/L EE2
91
3
500ng/L EE2
96
2
500ng/L EE2
97
3*
500ng/L EE2
98
3*
500ng/L EE2
108
3
500ng/L EE2
110
3*
500ng/L EE2
112
3*
500ng/L EE2
115
3
500ng/L EE2
116
3
500ng/L EE2
119
3*
500ng/L EE2
120
3*
control
152
3
control
153
2
control
155
3*
control
156
2
control
157
3
control
159
2
control
166
3
control
172
1

Statistics: Chi-square between treatment =0.2
external image 20120723-18mn61rqxdgsfd273k2dt4x485.jpg

took a few more oocyte measurements (see initial measurements 7/20/12) and confirmed that variability is huge. Oysters 152 and 166 are control oysters, all of the others are EE2 treated.
external image 20120723-e81x7jj79u876ba4epdpfgimi7.jpg


7/20/12
Summary: measurements of oocytes size in EE2 treated v. control oysters
external image 20120720-83953ghxen9ybx7mdm5h87p8y5.jpgl


7/17/12
Summary: first attempts at measuring oocyte area using NIS elements and ImageJ
NIS Elements

external image 20120718-ffhmccg95hfey52frmpc6hnwch.jpg
ImageJ
external image 20120717-j5ntju5h6dtiwu2dyj3au7dt4e.jpg

7/12/12
Summary: measurements of oocytes using the Young Lab microscope and NIS elements software

7/10/12
Summary: Images of day0 histology for staging.
Images histology day0
View more PowerPoint from mgavery


7/9/12
Summary: A) Results of actual EE2 concentration in seawater on select days by GCMS; B) Day zero histology notes
Results:

(A) EE2 concentrations in tanks
500ng/L nominal Tank 1:
5/28 (fresh preparation): 350ng/L
5/30 (post-1/2 tank change): 45ng/L
6/4 (24hr post fresh dosing): 25ng/L

50ng/L nominal Tank 3:
5/28 (fresh preparation): 37.2ng/L
5/30 (post-1/2 tank change): 37.4ng/L
6/4 (24hr post fresh dosing): ~37ng/L

(B) Gonad staging of 10 oysters (1 per family) at Day zero of the trial:
NOTE: these are initial notes, looked at slides w/ C. Friedman today, but I need to decide on staging criteria and reexamine
0 - undifferentiated, 1 - very early development, 2-mid development, 3 - ripe, 4-ripe/partial spawn, 5 - reabsorption
R385 - female, stage 2-3 (mature eggs were present in folicle)
R874 - male, stage 3-4 (mature spermatazoa)
R371 - female, stage 1 (very few oocytes in lumen)
R861 - female, stage 2-3
R819 - female 3-4 (ripe)
R373 - male, stage 3-4 (mature spermatazoa)
R869 - male, stage 1-2
R554 - female, stage 5 (possibly spent, in reabsorption, lots of hemocytes)
R363 - male, stage 3-4 (mature spermatazoa)
R818 - female, stage ~2 (no oocytes in middle of follicle, but developing at edge of follicle)


7/6/12
Summary: Quick graphs of sex ratios for day 35 and 42 samples by treatment and by family. Sample sizes vary for all graphs so see raw data/previous notebook entries. Although not significantly different, there is a trend toward more females in treated groups compared to control. Family R554 is the only family that shows a majority of females (for Day 35 & 42 combined: 3/5 (females/total) for control, 3/5 for 50ng/L treatment, and 6/6 for 500ng/L treatment.)

external image 20120706-x6qbnhwq393tgrdb92nhdme1j1.jpg

external image 20120707-k4pwi3kk7t78x2cne4eswh1d1r.jpg

6/21/12
Summary: Documentation of EE2 trial week 6:
The oysters remaining after the 35 day sampling will be maintained for 1 to 2 weeks in the absence of any treatment to assess whether any molecular changes (e.g. DNA methylation), if they occurred, are maintained after the EE2 treatment has been removed.

6/14/12 - 6/20/12
Summary: Documentation of EE2 trial week 5:


6/7/12 - 6/13/12
Summary: Documentation of EE2 trial week 4:

5/31/12 - 6/6/12
Summary: Documentation of EE2 trial week 3: 5/31/12- 6/6/12, cumulative mortality: 4

5/24/12 - 5/30/12
Summary: Documentation of EE2 trial week 2: 5/24/12 -5/30/12 , cumulative mortality over this period=25

5/17/12 - 5/23/12
Summary: Documentation of EE2 trial week 1: 5/17/12 - 5/23/12, temp change from 18-19C, cumulative mortality over this period =11, no more thank 1 animal/tank/day

5/16/12
Summary: Day 0 of EE2 trial.
Procedure:
Data:
Day zero measurements:
length and width in mm, mass in grams. original data sheet here.
external image 20120517-861h673acn2jny8hhe9exanc9n.jpg

Oyster bag labeling scheme:
external image 20120517-fhgne7skr362u359j8kraj6wg5.jpg

4/10/12
Summary: summarize of results for most recent Nanostring samples 3/21/12.

This table is tracking the results of a number of the more interesting (i.e. there is evidence of methylation and/or differential methylation) sites. The most recent samples, tested 3/21/12, include additional gonad samples and larvae samples as we were interested in the differential methylation observed for the hexokinase loci (probe ID: EU342886_1129).
external image 20120410-fqyftdcie7j9f3iebenk4a79uu.jpg

3/1/12
Summary: results of bisulfite sequencing for C.gigas hexokinase gene fragment for: larvae, sperm, gill and EE2 exposed gill
NOTES: see original notes from sequencing 2/21/12. The sequencing facility was contacted and had some thoughts about why the sequencing results were poor (see email here) and they re-ran the samples. A summary of the results are below:

Percent methylation is based on the results of 4 individual clones analyzed for each sample (between 2 and 6 sequencing replicates were analyzed for each clone). For the samples noted w/ an asterisk only 2 of the 4 clones were analyzed at that positions (for the other clones this position either had a SNP or deletion so that it was not a CpG site), for the EE2 exposed gill none of the clones could be analyzed at position 2. For that reason I do not have a lot of confidence in the results for position 2. For the larvae samples, a similar situation was observed for positions 3 and 4 so that only 2 of the 4 clones could be analyzed. Position 4 CpG is the site that is being analyzed in Nanostring (EU342886_1129).
external image 20120302-xrj73y3ibx6qssc8j7359uh4da.jpg
In summary, I am confident in saying that this region is differentially methylated between sperm and gill (and trends point that way for larvae too). Other trends observed are that it appears that the this region has higher methylation in the larvae sample compared to the gill, and that the EE2 exposure does not appear to affect methylation in this region of the hexokinase gene - but it is important to note that the gill sample analyzed was not the 'control' for the EE2 experiment, but rather a gill sample taken at a different time. I would like to get additional clones analyzed for all 4 of these samples (especially the larvae) to have more confidence in the quantitation of these results. Comparing the results of CpG position 4 with that of Nanostring results the trends are the same (see entry 12/21/11) although quantitatively different. In summary, Nanostring results for all gill samples tested (including EE2 exposed gill) had 0% methylation, the larvae had 63% methylation and the sperm showed 30% methylation. It may be important to note that if there is a real SNP in this position (as it appears there may be from some of the larvae clones) it's possible that the %methylation result from Nanostring could be biased because the enzyme recognition site may be absent.

2/23/12
Summary: complete gDNA isolation from 2/22/12; send samples to Nanostring
Procedure:


2/22/12
Summary: begin gDNA isolation for C.gigas samples (gonad and larvae) to be tested in the last batch of Nanostring assays.
The goal is to get additional larvae and gonad sample to test using the Nanostring assay since we only currently have data for 1 sample of each. I will be isolating fresh DNA from the gonad samples I have from the July 2010 spawning as well as some larval samples from the hatchery (4-19-11 155 and 4-19-11 159).
Procedure:

2/21/12
Summary: notes from Sanger sequencing results from samples sent 2/2/12
Results: Overall the quality of the sequences were surprisingly low. I spot checked the concentration of the plasmids on the Nanodrop and they are consistent and of sufficient conc (all between 150 - 250ng/uL). There are 3 sequencing reps per clone (2F and 1 R using the M13 primers). For many of the plasmids one or 2 of the replicates had decent sequences but the third is horrible. Indicating the plasmid is ok and either the loading or the sequencing was bad? The hexokinase sequences were mediocre overall. For the Vtg plasmids there was consistent poor quality. There was only good sequence data for the 3' sperm sample (the 5' sperm and 3' and 5' EE2 sample did not have any good quality reps). Summaries for each gene are below:

Hexokinase: more clones needed but the general trend follows the Nanostring results with both gill samples showing zero methylation at the Nanostring target (3/3 clones) and at least some methylation in the larvae (1/3) and sperm (3/3) at the same site. More clones are needed to see if the trends hold true. Next steps: Submit samples for sequencing again, select final 4 samples for Nanostring analysis. At this point I would like to test a 2nd gonad sample for both sperm and ovary as well a separate C.gigas larvae sample. For the 4th sample it may be interesting to include 1 rep of the gills samples exposed to L-methionine.
Vitellogenin: only the 3' sperm sample had good sequence consensus (shown below). These sequences align w/ what I was considering the 5' region of this nested primer set (labeling problems?). Most of the CpG sites here are unmethylated. *Cytosines are blue, CpGs are marked in purple on CDS - no blue at CpG sites = no methylation* There are a small number of putative 'unconverted' cytosines (C's in non-CpG context and only 1 clone). Next steps: Submit samples for sequencing again. Right now the results are just descriptive so it would be nice to get results to compare to the methylation status of the sperm sample.
external image 20120302-xs54c53ue7c5e7tp5astmstxtu.jpg
2/2/12
Summary: completed mini-preps from 2/1/12
Procedure: repeated procedure from 1/28/12
Next Step: load sequencing plate and send Vtg and hexokinase samples out for Sanger sequencing on 2/6/12

2/1/12
Summary: run gel for PCR screen of vitellogenin bisulfite clones, initiate mini-prep
Results:
0.8% agarose gel, see 1/31/12 for PCR
external image 20120201-xqyjissswwewc1eu5asqghjyke.jpg
Most of the clones look good. The expected band size (+vector sequence (used M13 primers)) for vtg 5' is ~700bp, and vtg 3' is ~600bp.

1/31/12
Summary: cloning of C. gigas vitellogenin bisulfite treated DNA cont. from 1/30/12. Today: select colonies and PCR-screen for insert using M13 vector primers.
Procedure: repeated procedure from 1/26/12 (A)

1/30/12
Summary: initiate cloning of bisulfite treated C.gigas DNA for the (putative) last exon of Vitellogenin. Samples: EE2 exposed gill and sperm (see 1/123/12 for PCR)
Procedure: repeated procedure from 1/25/12 here. The PCR products here are from a nested bisulfite primers - see 12/6/11 for sequences

1/28/12
Summary: finish mini-prep of plasmids from 1/27/12 (hexokinase bisulfite treated 4 C.gigas samples). CLC: Started CLC jobs notes for today here
Procedure
Decanted ~1.5mL broth from each tube into microcentrifuge tube and spin max speed 1min. Remove supe. Decant an additional ~1.5 mL broth into tube, spin max 1min. Decant supe. Follow instructions for Qiagen's Qiaprep Spin Miniprep kit. NOTE: did not perform step 10 which is a wash w/ Buffer PB. Stored tubes in labeled rack in large -20C.
Next Steps: Will clone vitellogenin PCR products (see 1/13/12) next week then submit all the samples on a plate for sequencing (probably Thursday).

1/27/12
Summary: run gel for PCR screen of hexokinase bisulfite clones, initiate mini-prep
Results:
0.8% agarose gel, see 1/27/12 for PCR
external image 20120127-mh1a49i85j4jrjidydqmex11c.jpg
PCR screen looks good for a majority of the clones. The predicted band size from the hex PCR is 503bp, plus the ~200 bp of vector (used M13 primers) gives a 700bp, which is where a majority of the clones are (using HyperladderII). Note: I was not able to load sperm clone 8 or EE2 1 (human errors) so there is nothing loaded in those lanes. I will pick 4 clones each w/ bands @ 700bp to do mini-preps.
MiniPrep:
added 5mL liquid LB broth + 50ug/mL Kan to individual tubes then used a toothpick to innoculate broth w/ the selected re-streaked colonies. tubes were placed in 37C shaking at 220rpm to incubate over night

1/26/12
Summary: A) cloning of C. gigas hexokinase bisulfite treated DNA cont. from 1/25/12. Today: select colonies and PCR-screen for insert using M13 vector primers. B) notes for de novo assembly of C.gigas fosmid reads.
Procedure:
A)
B) The plan is to do some systematic assemblies of the C.gigas fosmid reads (paired end)
General notes: Focus on assembling 1 fosmid at a time first, ignore the paired reads, do not need to trim reads first
1. Started assembly w/ fosmid ..17. I will try to do a few assemblies with ..17 (varying parameters), before going onto other fosmids
2. de novo assembly: fosmid ..17 paired end reads. Mostly default parameters: mismatch=2, insertion=3, deletion=3, length fraction=0.5, similarity=0.8, distance: min-150, max-200 (did not check the 'guidance only' box), 'vote', 'random', minimum length of contig=100


1/25/12
Summary: initiate cloning of C. gigas hexokinase bisulfite treated DNA
Procedure:
Target Sequence for hexokinase 5' set (Cg_hexkinBS_out_F & Cg_hexkinBS_inA_R(1443, 1440))




1/13/12
Summary: Second round PCR and band excision for bisulfite sequencing of portions of C. gigas hexokinase and Vtg genes.Continued from 1/12/12
Procedure:
Results:
all PCR rxns run out on a 0.8% agarose gel
order of samples (left to right) for each primer set: gill E, sperm, gill EE2 exposed, larvae (control), blank 1º, blank 2º
external image 20120114-b44axj5rmac63utn247ub5q9j4.jpg
All major bands were excised from the gel and stored @ -20 (Mac's bisulfite box). The major bands were all the expected size. This was the first time these hexokinase primers were tested. The 3' pair of these nested primers showed a faint band @ ~300bp, but the major bands still have pretty good intensity.
Conclusions/Next steps: It appears from the band sizes that the primers are working as expected. The next step is to do some cloning with a sub-set or maybe all? of these samples.

1/12/12
Summary: First round PCR for bisulfite sequencing of portions of C. gigas hexokinase and Vtg genes. The samples: gillE, gill EE2 100ng/L (3), sperm (P19), larvae (control from 5-aza experiment)
Procedure:


Next Steps: Will do 2nd round PCRs tomorrow.

1/11/12
Summary: Bisulfite conversion of 8 samples C.gigas gDNA (a majority have been previously tested on the nCounter system)
Procedure
external image 20120113-83biq45xsqqbfpi23uf24e6kfb.jpgexternal image 20120113-q76nd2jdbht9ysp5sairqay13t.jpg
I used the wrong constant for gDNA, so the quant is just an estimate. The A260/320's are low for some of the samples and the yields are really variable. Just to point out, the last time I did this procedure the A280/A320 was ~3 (12/10/09) and the yields were more consistent. Next step, I am going to use some of these samples to do bisulfite sequencing of a portion of the hexokinase gene that has been assayed on the nCounter system and showed differential methylation between gill and all other tissue samples. I am going to do the bisulfite PCRs for the Vtg primers at the same time since I have them.


1/6/12
Summary: finish dot blot from 1/5/12. Oysters exposed to dietary L-methionine
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20120109-m6i2pdpasqqcd2x35k5njahnge.jpg

The results are inconclusive. The background is really high and there is no clear dilution effect. 60 minutes is the longest exposure time I've done with this assay, but the overall signal was so low (or background was so high) that I didn't feel comfortable stopping the exposure any earlier. If I were to repeat this assay I would probably do a larger range of dilutions (e.g. 1.5 - 0.015 ng) and do slightly longer washes.

1/5/12
Summary: initiate dot blot procedure for analyzing global methylation patterns in oysters exposed to dietary L-methionine (gill tissue)
Procedure:

12/28/11-12/29/11
Summary: isolate gDNA from oysters+L-methionine experiment (see 12/21/11)
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20111230-fsxj1ukywissdpb1e7w7wh7nby.jpg
Next Steps: These samples will be analyzed for global methylation levels using the dot blot procedure.

12/21/11
Summary: A) Nanostring update, B) oysters + L-methionine, sample 48hr time-point

A) Nanostring update: results of 4 C.gigas samples sent 12/8/11 are summarized below


12/20/11
Summary: oysters + L-methionine, sample 24hr time-point

12/19/11
Summary: Start trial with oysters + L-methionine
Procedure:

12/16/11
Summary: General plan for L-methionine exposure. The goal of this small trial is to induce hypermethylation in oysters by exposing them to L-methionine. Background: Administration of L-methionine induces hypermethylation of certain gene promoters in rat brains (Weaver et al 2005). But it should be noted that the effects of dietary L-methionine exposures are not that straight forward (e.g. may cause hypermethylation only in certain genes, in certain tissues at certain times, and may also result in hypomethylation (Waterland 2006)).Oysters will uptake the free amino acid L-methionine in seawater (Nell & Dunkley 1984).

12/14/11
Summary: complete EtOH precipitation of fractions generated using the MethylMiner kit (see 12/13/11). Evaluate separation by PCR
Procedure:
external image 20111214-pp4a4g25jfjdii5d1apd8gus7g.jpg

Results:
I am most interested in the R037 1000mM NaCl Eluate sample, as this is the majority of the methylated fraction of the DNA. The quantification here is likely to be inaccurate since conc. is so low. *I will still estimate recoveries, but probably am overestimating the amount of methylated fractions
Control DNA: >100% total recovery (1ug), 60% was in non-captured fraction, 40% was in methylated fractions (combined). This is generally consistent with expected results (by PCR analysis, not direct quantitation) 70% in super, 30% in captured
Sample DNA: >100% total recovery* (~6ug at the beginning ~7.8ug at the end). Here is the breakdown:
non-captured supernatant: 6.2ug (79% of DNA recovered)
1000mM eluted fraction: 1ug (13% of DNA recovered)
2000mM eluted fraction (this would be the highly methylated fraction): 0.6 ug (8% of recovered DNA)
Evaluation of recovery: The recovery was high overall compared to previous runs (see 11/2010), but the breakdown %wise of each fraction was similar.
Follow-up: PCR was performed to evaluate separation of DNA
PCR for control DNA


Results:
eluate 1 (1000mM NaCl fraction), eluate 2 (2000mM NaCl fraction)
external image 20111214-xuh7bgfya98bphf9r3qammrjn4.jpg
Conclusions/Next Steps: Moving to San Diego, next steps buy plane tickets. Not really. The separation worked, but not as well as it has in previous 2 runs in Nov 2010. Lanes 2 and 7 are positive controls and lanes and 11 are negative controls - as expected. For the left half of the gel, the majority of the non-methylated spike is in the non-captured supe fraction (lane 3), but there was also unmethylated DNA in the 1000mM NaCl elution (lane 4). For the right half of the gel, the majority of the methylated spike was in the methylated fraction (lane 9, and a some in lane 10), but there was also amplification in the in non-captured supe (lane 8). This would NOT be an appropriate separation if the goal was to do a comparative analysis between samples. However, this separation is being used primarily as a means to get a reduced representation of the genome for performing high-throughput bisulfite sequencing, so in this case, I feel the separation is sufficient. The only outstanding issue is that the quantification of the 1000mM NaCl eluate (or methylated fraction) is likely not accurate (conc. too low, no real 'peak' observed at A260). When this sample ships to htSeq they will do QC (size distribution and quantification) on the sample before initiating library prep. If the amount of DNA is not sufficient, I think it would be appropriate to pool this fraction with the remaining fragmented DNA sent to htSeq last week (12/07/11 D)

12/13/11
Summary: complete EtOH precipitation of and perform MethylMiner procedure for R037 pooled oyster sample (initiated 12/12/11).
Procedure:
Next Steps: Complete EtOH precipitation, quant samples and send methylated fraction (1000mM NaCl elucte) to htSeq

12/12/11
Summary: Prepare a pool of C.gigas gill DNA (35 x 51 oysters grown in SB for 10m (sampled 4/10)) to repeat MBD procedure to get sufficient gDNA to prep bisulfite treated library for Illumina sequencing.

12/9/11
Summary: ran bisulfite PCR samples from 12/08/11 on gel and excised bands
loaded 20uL of 1st and 2nd round PCRs (see 12/08/11) on 1.0% agarose EtBr gel
Results:
external image 20111209-8b746cqch3wmbpuxj66863hjxm.jpg
Bands! Bands of the correct size!!!! Ok, in summary: The first round PCR shows a faint band around 800bp as expected. The 2nd round PCRs (left to right, sample, 1st round PCR blank, 2nd round PCR blank), show nice bright band at the expected band sizes (355bp and 547bp). There are faint higher MW bands in both sample lanes. The bright bands were excised and stored immediately at -20 (Mac's bisulfite box). A couple follow up things: 1) looks like the method to determine exon/intron boundarys works pretty nicely (see NB entry 12/6/11) 2) BiSearch software did a nice job w/ primer design.
Next steps: The PCR products are ready for cloning next week.

12/8/11
Summary: A) bisulfite PCR C.gigas Vtg primers, B) EtOH precipitate gonad samples (see rationale for precipitation 12/7/11), C) send samples to Nanostring.

A) Bisulfite PCR of Cg vitellogenin (putative 3'exon See SR notebook 12/1/11)

B) EtOH precipitation of gonad samples originally isolated 7/19/10 and re-spec'd 12/7/11. Samples are P28 and P32 ovary samples from oysters spawned 7/01/10. These samples showed some particulate matter in them 12/7/11 and abnormal spec profiles. Briefly, added 0.1 vols of 3M sodium acetate to 280uL of sample, mixed and then added 2.5 vols of 100% EtOH. Mixed and incubated @ -80C for 1hr. Pelleted DNA 16,000g, 15mins, 4C. Discarded supe. Washed pellet w/ 1mL 70% EtOH (2x washes). Pelleted DNA 16,000g, 5mins, 4C. Discarded supe. Resuspended pellets in a total of 100uL Qiagen Buffer EB (10mM Tris-HCl) and spec'd. Profile is still abnormal. Concentrations (P28: 301.7ng/uL and P32: 223.6 ng/uL ) are likely to be inaccurate.
external image 20111209-fa4ahx4e8ej567tcp6bebje79t.jpg

C) Sent 4 samples to Nanstring for analysis. Based on previous data (see summary 12/7/11), wanted to send a few additional larvae samples and also submitted a sperm and ovary sample. Spec'd all samples 12/7/11, but Nanostring will also get a concentration for these samples prior to running them.

12/7/11
Summary: A) Working summary of Nanostring data, B) quantification of potential gDNA samples for Nanostring, C) EtOH precipitation of 5-aza treated larvae sample, D) Ship MBD sample to UW htSeq

A) Working summary of Nanostring data. Includes a few QC steps (1 and 2), scoring method (3), results (4 and 5) and some interpretation. The original file is in Dropbox>Lab>Mac>nanostring
external image 20111207-myyh2yfbng47bmyuctcqg2bn5k.jpg

B) Re-quant some older gDNA samples. I'm doing this because the sperm sample I sent to Nanostring was much lower than expected based on the original concentration (isolated 7/22/10). I want to make sure I have good samples before they get run in the assay. The idea is to analyze additional larvae samples as well as repeat a sperm sample and include an ovary sample.
Results:
external image 20111208-k5h22ij8ymd8xrngngmq3ksbhb.jpg
Yes, something funny is going on with many of these samples. For example P2, P10 and P28 all had conc.between 100 - 300ng/uL in July 2010 (7/22/10). There were some particulates in some of these samples, I wondered if some of the DNA had precipitated out? so I gave them a good spin and re-quanted (see 2nd reads of P28 and P2), it appeared that the conc. had gone up for these second reads, but the spec profiles did not show a nice peak at 260 so I'm not sure what's going on here. I would like to try to EtOH precipitate these samples again, probably in a Tris buffer (instead of 8M NaOH pH adjusted w/ HEPES which is the DNAzol buffer).
Next Steps: I need to EtOH precipitate the 5aza tx larvae sample to get it to a higher conc. for Nanostring before I send it. There is a 'control' sperm sample that looks good for analysis (P19), the ovary sample that had a high concentration and good A260/A230 (P17) was a vinclozolin treated oyster. It could be worth analyzing this sample, but will probably want to try to EtOH precipitate the other ovary samples to get a good control.

C) EtOH precipitation of 5-aza treated larvae. Briefly, added 0.1 vols of 3M sodium acetate to 400uL of sample, mixed and then added 2 vols of 100% EtOH. Mixed and incubated @ -80C for 1hr. Pelleted DNA 16,000g, 15mins, 4C. Discarded supe. Washed pellet w/ 1mL 70% EtOH. Pelleted DNA 16,000g, 5mins, 4C. Discarded supe. Resuspended pellets in a total of 100uL Qiagen Buffer EB (10mM Tris-HCl) and spec'd.
external image 20111208-gb7ujebu98hgnub12yfm6x2kes.jpg

D) Send methylation enriched gDNA to htSeq for Illumina Whole Methylome sequencing. This enriched sample was generated using the MethylMiner kit (Invitrogen). The sample is a pool of gill tissue from 35x51 oysters grown in Samish Bay (R037) for 10 months (see 11/12/10 - 11/15/10 for prep). Specifically, the 1000uM NaCl eluted fraction (methylated) is being sequenced. This same fraction was also directly sequenced (no bisulfite conversion) in March of this year (see 3/7/11 for this sample prep). I spec'd the sample (NOTE: I spec'd this sample in section A but used the wrong buffer to blank. I re-spec'd w/ TE buffer): concentration 15.2ng/ul, 260/280: 1.9, 260/230: 1.1. A total of 0.5ug was shipped on ice, O/N to UW htSeq.

12/6/11
Summary: designed bisulfite PCR primers for the last ~840 bp of Cg_Vtg (AB084783)
Procedure:
external image 20111206-xieah2485ehsku18kw96symnbt.jpg

11/30/11
Summary: 1) ran bisulfite PCR samples from 11/29/11, 2) completed C. gigas larvae DNA isolations initiated 11/29/11.
Bisulfite PCR:
loaded 20uL of 1st and 2nd round PCRs (see 11/29/11) on 0.8% agarose EtBr gel
Results: no bands were observed for either the first or second round PCR for both genes (estrogen receptor or vitellogenin)
Interpretation: This is not really that unexpected. The primers were designed from an mRNA sequence. It is likely that the gDNA contained introns (first round PCR was to amplify ~1500bp of each gene, the second round to amplify ~700bp of the 1st round template), and so it is possible that band sizes were too large to amplify under these conditions. Alternatively, it is possible that primers were designed across an exon/intron boundary and therefore did not bind to the genomic sequence.

gDNA isolation:
Results:
external image 20111201-e681bd2m6wpmitfy8mkfdijjcy.jpg

Interpretation: Isolations did not go so well. Only 2 of the samples (bold above) had decent recoveries. There are a few reasons why the recoveries were poor. 1) possibly did not have enough larvae for some of the samples (see observations above), 2) larvae have tiny calcified shells, may need to crush larvae or do a more extensive pK digestions to recover DNA from a small # of larvae.


11/29/11
Summary: 1) PCR of bisulfite treated C.gigas gDNA - ER and Vtg gene. 2) Initiated DNA isolation of larval C.gigas samples
Procedure Bisulfite PCR:

Procedure gDNA isolation:

11/1/11-11/2/11
Summary: isolate gDNA from 6 oysters (C.gigas) exposed to 100ng/L EE2 for 96hr (see 10/27/11 for experiment). Samples to be used for Nanostring study. Also included an 'alive' diploid oyster exposed to low pH (sample from integrative environmental physiology A1D)
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20111102-mt2cp2yb44jd3djh1bs2a4si44.jpg


10/31/11
Summary: complete 96 hr EE2 experiment initiated 10/27/11
Procedure:
Sampling: Measured all oysters (data here) Sampled gill, digestive gland and mantle from each oyster 18 total (6 per treatment: control, 50ng/L EE2, 100ng/L EE2). Samples were stored on dry ice during sampling then moved to -80 freezer marked EE2 C.gigas MG 10/31/11. For 100ng/L oysters, took an additional gill sample and stored at -20. Will initiate DNA isolation for nanostring tomorrow with these samples.

10/27/11
Summary: begin experiment dosing oysters with 17alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE2) at 100ng/L and 50ng/L (total duration of exposure to be 96 hours)
Procedure:
Next Step: Perform a complete water/treatment change on Saturday the 29th.

10/25/11-10/26/11
Summary: cont. from 10/24/11. Select colonies for purification, grow O/N in liquid broth, purify plasmids
Procedure:
Next Steps: These are not high priority samples, I will just put them on next sequencing plate that goes out. I will also submit the PCR products for direct sequencing as well. Literature/interwebs always says that bisulfite treated products 'need' to be subcloned, not sure why. Talked to 2 people at ESF conference - one said they do direct sequencing all the time, the other said direct sequencing never worked for them. Sounds like we should try both.

10/24/11
Summary: cont. from 10/20/11. Today: Repeat PCR-screen for insert using 1 vector primer and 1 gene specific primer
Procedure:
Results:
(HyperladderII used: top bright band-2000bp, middle - 1000bp, lower-300bp)
external image 20111025-rfup14t53qsfyfk1cqrm9immh1.jpg
Summary: Yeah, still not sure what I cloned. Bands were not observed for the master mixes using the M13 reverse primers (lower half of gel (not labeled)) indicating that the inserts (what ever they are) were inserted in the 5' ->3' direction. For the PCR's using the M13 (F) primer and gene specific reverse primers multiple faint bands were observed for a majority of all 3 PCR products. The expected band size is ~1000bp for all 3 products. There is a faint band at 1000 bp for a majority of the lanes, but there are also higher MW bands as well. Some lanes show bright bands around 200bp. Since 1 insert specific primer was used, empty vector should not amplify. All in all, results are a little confusing still. In order to determine what has been cloned I will continue on with plasmid preps for 4 of the clones for each PCR product.

10/20/11
Summary: cont. from 10/19/11. Today: Repeat PCR-screen for insert using vector primers
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20111021-bja1u2iu9a9w9ccf14anxe5hb1.jpg
Conclusions/Next Steps: The expected band size for the insert + amplified bit of vector using M13 primers would be around 1000bp for all 3 of the PCR products. None of the colonies had 1000bp bands. Empty plasmids would be around 200 bp, so it looks like there is some kind of an insert for some of the colonies (bands >300bp). I am stumped about the band >2000bp. In order to see if the desired product (or part of the desired product?) has been cloned, will re-screen colonies using 1 vector primer and 1 gene specific primer.

10/19/11
Summary: cont. from 10/18/11. Today: select colonies and PCR-screen for insert using gene specific primers
Procedure:
Results/Next Steps: No bands were present for any of the colonies selected. Also included a 'positive control' by loading 2uL of the extracted band for each template - no bands visible for these either. Results are inconclusive as positive controls did not amplify. Repeat PCR, try using vector primers (M13) instead.

10/18/11
Summary: initiate cloning of PCR products from 10/13/11 (bisulfite treated Cg_hsc70) using TOPO TA Cloning Kit
Procedure:

10/17/11
Summary: run PCR products from 10/13/11 (bisulfite treated Cg_hsc70) on gel and cut out bands
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20111018-kx6qr8qtgja6cm39jcnhqr3914.jpg
negative controls were negative. PCR 1 gave very faint band ~650 bp, PCR 4 had bright band @ 700bp and PCR 5 gave mid-intensity band @ 800bp (these bands are the same size are previous bands (from March 2011) - The expected band sizes for all 3 are between 600 and 700bp.

Next Step: clone PCR products

10/13/11
Summary: PCR of bisulfite treated C.gigas gDNA - hsc70 gene. I am repeating what was performed back in March 2011 with a subset of the nested primer pairs because the products didn't clone the first time around. Changes from March: anneal temp dropped from 58C to 55C (58C was to high for product 'A' primers), added 2uL of template to 2nd round PCR instead of 1uL.
Procedure:


10/06/11
Summary: 3'/5' RACE PCR C.gigas DNMT1 cont. from 10/5/11. Nested PCR and visualization of PCR products
Procedure:
Results: Results were similar to those performed using 5' RACE ready DNA on 8/3/11. No bands were observed for the original PCR or the nested PCR. Negative controls were negative.
Next Steps: Send the 800bp band from the 3'RACE for sequencing (early next week?). I will combine this sequence with the 1366bp already sequenced. I may be able to get additional sequence bioinformatically using some of the newly released C.gigas sequencing data.

10/5/11
Summary: 5' RACE PCR C.gigas DNMT1 cont. from 8/3/11 - retrying 5' RACE with Sam's C.gigas RACE ready cDNA
Procedure:

8/3/11
Summary: 3'/5' RACE PCR C.gigas DNMT1 cont. from 8/2/11. Nested PCR and visualization of PCR products
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20110804-ga25c56md7jucs2rg6dpnu611y.jpg
Conclusions/Next Steps:
The excised band can be cloned and sequenced (or directly sequenced?). It is unclear whether the 5' RACE ready cDNA was not good or if the primers just didn't work. I will retry both sets of primers with Sam's C.gigas 5' RACE ready cDNA if there is a sufficient amount.

8/2/11
Summary: 3'/5' RACE PCR C.gigas DNMT1
Procedure:
external image 20110802-pnuypcs8cma14it77st9w7jwq1.jpg
Next Steps: Perform nested PCR, then run both today's and nested on a gel.
*NOTE: 8/3/11. Results of gel: no bands were observed in any of the 10 lanes:
external image 20110804-p2gcak1yxjnurqe594n6qgpnh9.jpg


6/16/11
Summary: hsc70 (AJ305315) bisulfite sequencing analysis. PCR products 1 and 2 (see 3/22/11)

external image 20110616-e4uqyigr34jcawkg8bi3x7jspb.jpg
Predictions:
external image 20110819-tm288r3sksr1cyjxftkhckdxus.jpg

Conclusions: Two exons and 2 introns have been analyzed for methylation status of individual cytosines. Only 4 CGs in introns - none are methylated . A number of CG in exons are methylated (85% in exon 4) - usually methylation status is 100% in inverts, but intermediate levels for a few. It appears like there may be some non-CG methylation (sites where 100% of clones retain C in a non-CG dinucleotide) and there is also a small degree of what looks like unconverted cytosines. Based on the predicted methylation status for individual exons, I am interested in seeing the methylation status of exon 3 which has a much higher CpGo/e than the other exons. Maybe it will be unmethylated? Maybe it's an alternatively spliced exon??

5/11/11-5/12/11
Summary: PROPS NGS data analysis summary - Gene Discovery: verifying consensus seqs from de novo mapping of reads that did NOT map back to Sigenae v8 are 'novel'; RNA-seq of novel consensus seq; annotation of RNA-seq
workflow:
Next Step: should probably look at breakdown of GO terms here to include in final analysis



5/5/11
Summary: PROPS NGS data analysis summary - Gene Discovery: annotating contigs generated from de novo assembly of unmapped reads using BB and DH_trimmed 3 as input and Sigenae v8 as reference
workflow:
Next Step: find a way to verify if these genes are 'novel'. Probably will try to 'subtract tables' in Galaxy (i.e. subtract from hit table those genes found in Sigenae v8 and see what's left). Generate a table of these hits. Will also do a blastx of de novo assembly of libraries (ALL READS), and compare these results.

4/30/11
Summary: PROPS NGS data analysis summary for today


4/28/10
Summary: PROPS NGS data analysis summary for today
Next Steps:

3/22/11
Summary: gel pieces or PCR product already extracted from gel given to SR for cloning:
labeled tubes 1 - 5:
1. gel piece: A(F)_nest A(R) - gel 3/21/11
2. already extracted: nest A int (F) & (R) - gel 3/11/11
3. already extracted: nest A (F)_A (R) - gel 3/11/11
4. already extracted: B(F)_nest B (R) - gel 3/11/11
5. gel piece: nest B (F)_B(R) - gel 3/21/11

3/21/11
Summary: 2nd round PCR of bisulfite treated C.gigas DNA to characterize methylation pattern of hsc70. Cont. from 3/18/11, 2nd round PCR and band excisions
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20110322-fs68n9bdq2k8uwixhxjr8f88h6.jpg
Expected bands were observed in the 'B' primer pairs. For the 'A' primer pairs, the results were inconsistent with previous results. The nest A(R)_A(F) band *run at 55C annealing* showed a band similar to previous (3/14/11), the A9F) nestAint(R) I had never run before, but the expected band size is ~1200 a faint band was observed @ 800. The other two primers, which previously (3/9/11) gave very intense bands at the expected size did not show any bands. Ugh. I excised the 4 visible bands and froze them immediately at -20C.
Conclusions/Next Steps: Will use A(F)_nest A (R) and B(F)_nest B(R) products for cloning. The additional bands to be used will be from the gel run 3/11/11.

3/18/11
Summary: PCR of bisulfite treated C.gigas DNA to characterize methylation pattern of hsc70. This is a follow-up to 3/9/11 in order to 1) repeat the PCRs to get fresh bands for cloning, 2) use different a Taq/cycling parameters to try to amplify the whole gene.
Procedure:
repeat 3/9/11 PCR (first round PCR) Apex mastermix
PCR w/ Clontech Advantage 2 PCR kit
PCR w/ Clontech Advantage Genomic LA Polymerase Mix
Results:
ran 20uL of Advantage 2 and Genomic LA samples and blanks on an agarose gel and no visible bands were observed.
Next steps:
perform nested PCR with Apex following same procedure as 3/9/11. Will run gel, cut bands and freeze immediately for cloning.

3/11/11 & 3/14/11
Summary: PCR of bisulfite treated C.gigas DNA to characterize methylation pattern of hsc70. This is a follow-up to 3/9/11 using a lower annealing temperature to try to get amplification for nested PCR pair: A (F)_nest A (R).
Procedure:
Results: (comment: primer set on left is typto should be A (F)_nest A (R)
external image 20110314-rfgiqmp32ys79qtwqx676pmpkm.jpg
Conclusions/Next Steps:
Lowering the annealing temperatures for the initial and nested PCR was sufficient for producing a band with the primer pair A(R)_nest A (F). The band is faint, but is close to the expected size of ~500bp. Lowering the annealing temp did produce a 2nd band (the lower band) in the nest A (F)_A(R) primer pair when the neat bisufltie treated DNA was used (lane6) (it is expected that lowering the annel temp may reduce specificity), but when the PCR product from the first round was used as the template (lane 7) only the expected band was visible. The next step is sequence these bands by either direct sequencing or by subcloning.

3/9/11 - 3/10/11
Summary: PCR of bisulfite treated C.gigas DNA to characterize methylation pattern of hsp70.
Background on primer design:

external image 20110310-b7x93ibhbaghkme8d9n5hxrwy2.jpg

external image 20110310-cspxuy8ju71d55es2axcap9d95.jpg

external image 20110310-nt76u59bcf2m47weqc4137teiy.jpg
PRIMER SEQUENCES:
external image 20110311-n8814yiiw3gbhp5wyjjeyf98yc.jpg
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20110311-fqceed2t7bhyqpe46ss4g1u444.jpg
external image 20110311-tyww6t8w6wtc2skww61h3xsmbg.jpg
Conclusions/Next Steps
The 2nd round PCR bands were the expected sizes, although I couldn't visually see a band from the 1st round amplification (expected at 1500ish bp product for both A and B amplicons), it appeared to have amplified since the 2nd round PCR produced a band (that is stronger than just running the neat DNA). I am not sure why the the nest A (R)_A (F) PCR didn't amplify anything, possibly reducing the annealing temp may help for this one (A (F) has a 57.2C TM).
Next step is to get this DNA onto the sequencing plate and also continue to follow up w/ Epigendx about doing pyrosequencing on these samples.


3/9/11
Summary: C.gigas DNMT1 characterization update (see primer design 10/7/10)
assembly of sequence data generated from PCR products:
external image 20110309-r7y6cbnbau1f2y9u7dm4imxspe.jpg
Consensus Sequence (1366bp):
CGCCCCAATTTTTTTTGCTGGAGACGTACGTAACTTTGTATCGTTCAAGCGCAGCATGGTTCTGAAGCTGGCGCTGCGCTGCCTCACTACGATGGG
ATACCAGTGTACGTTTGGAGTTCTCCAGGCCGGGAGTTACGGAGTCCCGCAGACACGAAGAAGAGCCATTATACTAGCAGCAGCCCCTGGCGAAA
AGCTGCCATTTTTTCCTGAACCTCAGCATGTTTTTGCACCAAGAGCCATGCAACTCTCAGTTCAAGTCGATGATAAAAAATTTATGTCCAACATCACC
AGAATGGAGTCGGCGCCATTCCGCACAATCACAGTGAGGGACACAATGTCCGACCTCCCAGAAATCAGGAACGGGGCCAAAGCTGAGGAGATCT
CCTACCAGGGAGACCCACAGTCTCACTTCCAGAGAATCATTCGAGGCAAGCAGCACCAGCCGATTCTCAGGGACCACATATGTAAGGAGATGAGTC
CTCTAGTGGCGGCCAGAATGCAGCATATCCCTCTGGCCCCGGGCTCAGATTGGAGGGACCTTCCGAACATTGAGGTCCGTCTCTCCGATGGAACCA
AGACCAAGAAACTGCAGTACACCCATTATGACAAAAAGAACGGCAAGAGTTCGGATGGCTCCCTAAGGGGGGTATGTTCCTGTGCTGAGGGTAAGGC
GTGTGAGACGATGGACCGTCAGTTCAACACCCTGATCCCCTGGTGTCTCCCCCACACAGGAAACAGACACAACCACTGGGCCGGGCTGTACGGGCG
GCTACAGTACGACGGGTTCTTCAGCACCACTGTTACCAACCCAGAACCCATGGGGAAACAGGGAAGGGTTCTCCACCCAGAGCAGCACCGGGTGGTC
AGCGTCAGGGAGTGTGCCCGCTCCCAGGGGTTCCCCGACACCTACAGATTCTTTGGCAACATTCTGGACAAACACAGACAGATCGGTAATGCTGTTCCA
CCTCCCATGGCTCGGTTCATTGGACTGGAGATTCGAAAGTCGCTGGAATGGAAGACCGCTGATCAGCCAGACATAGAAACAGAGACAGAGGTAAAAGGTG
ATGTGAAGATGGAGGTCAAGGTTGCTGAGGGGTCACCTTGTAAGCCGGGCTCTTCCCTGAATTAACAGTTGCATGGACGTGATAAGAAACGTGAAGATTTCC
GAAATGTGAAAAAGAAGAATCTTGGATGAAATAAACCGACGATTTGGAGGAACACGCTTTCAGCCATCATATGTAATGGTGTCGCCAATGAACCTGACAAAAAT
TGAAAGTAAATTTAATCATGAGTCATTAATTAAAGTGCCGACGTTAGTACCAATCTTATGGACTGTGATAATGAAGTAGTAAGAAGGTACAAAATG
BLASTX of this 1355bp consensus sequence:
external image 20110309-g2844x5sau4rnwxg48wrxiwqu5.jpg
Top Hit

external image 20110309-tuuc2nwwumdeke3rmutenc2sxc.jpg

3/7/11
Summary: aliquoted MBD immunoprecipitated C.gigas samples for SOLiD library prep and analysis
Justification of samples: using the MethylMiner kit, I fractionated pooled C.gigas gDNA (from gill tissue) into methylated and unmethylated fractions. I performed this procedure for two different samples; the first was a pool of 35x51 oysters outplanted at Willapa Bay for 10mo. (labeled R051) on 11/10/10, the second was a similar pool of 35x51's outplanted at Samish Bay for 10mo. (labeled R037) on 11/15/10. The procedure was the same for both of these samples, and ended with 3 fractions for each library: the unbound fraction (unmethylated), the DNA fragments that eluted with 1000mM NaCl (methylated), the fragments that eluted with 2000mM NaCL (highly methylated). Most of the DNA was recovered in either the unbound fraction or the 1000mM eluated fraction. It should be noted that the control methylated DNA also eluted in the 1000mM fraction. As a first step to characterize the methylated and unmethylated fractions of the C.gigas genome, two of these samples will be submitted for SOLiD library prep and sequencing: Samish Bay unbound (unmethyated) and Samish Bay 1000mM NaCL eluate (methylated). The Samish Bay samples were chosen as they had higher 260/260 ratios than WB.
Procedure: re-quantified both of these samples on the nanodrop and aliquoted 0.5ug of fragmented DNA into a fresh tube and placed in NGS sequencing box in -80C.


2/15/11-2/16/11
Summary: MSAP cont. from 2/11/11. Repeat selective PCR and increase run time and % agarose to get better resolution of bands
Procedure:
Results:
external image 20110216-tqbsjjw3gxe4c3in6ma6eaf637.jpg
Conclusions/Next steps:
Did not gain much in the way of resolution by running a longer gel. Should also probably consider post-staining in the future. Other than 1 very bright band (top band) in MspI that is not present in HpaII (indicating a methylated CCGG), there are no other bands that show a difference in presence/absence in any of the other primer pairs. Still not a lot of resolution to speak of, so perhaps a polyacrylamide gel, or bioanalyzer or CE analysis would provide more definitive results? I need to repeat the pre-select and select PCR to test other types of visualization (Apex mastermix has loading dye that is not compatable with the other methods).

2/11/11
Summary: MSAP procedure cont. from 2/10/11: a) visualize selective PCR w/ primer pair 1 on a gel, b) select PCR with additional primer pairs
Procedure:
external image 20110211-k45d6ds2jkdd479cpycysym363.jpg
Results: Results for duplicates are consistent between samples (these are duplicate digestion-ligation reactions from DNA from the same tube). This is the first time I have seen consistent results. Since the DNAzol samples are consistent for this prep and not for previous preps, I can only assume that the 'fresh' DNA had something to with the reproducibility. I will run these samples (i.e. same pre-select PCR as the template) with additional primer pairs (e.g. primer pair 5 which I have run with 2 different oyster gill preps prior to this). To confirm that the 'fresh' DNA has an effect, I would like to repeat the digestion-ligation with this DNA as well as previously run DNA that has shown not to be reproducible.
Procedure cont. (select PCR w/ additional primer pairs)
Results:
external image 20110214-cmhw3xgiuejf4bybew2ps77sgf.jpg
Conclusions/Next Steps:
Reproducibility success! These data seem to suggest that using freshly isolated DNA is the key, however, it should be noted that previous attempts with this protocol have only used two tissue samples, one from gill (with two independent DNA isolations from that sample) the oter from gonad. The gill tissue had been stored in RNA later prior to isolation and the DNA had been stored for >2 months before the digestion-ligation occurred. The gonad tissue had been stored on ice for ~8 hours then placed at -80 prior to isolation. Two things to do going forward: The first is to run all 7 primer pairs on a large, high % agarose gel to try to get the most separation between the bands. A number of the primer sets don't appear to have noticeable differences in the bands between the Hpa and Msp digests. Would like to get more resolution to be able to determine if this is in fact the case and also decide if agarose gels will allow enough resolution to score the 'epigenotype' (versus needing to run a polyacrylamide gel or CE). Additionally, I would like to use MSAP to analyze tissues that I already have either frozen (some, but not all in RNAlater) or stored in ethanol. It would be really nice to get data from these samples so I think it's worth it to do a trial run with these different types of tissue storage.

2/10/11
Summary: MSAP procedure continued from 2/9/11, specifically pre-select PCR and gDNA evaluation from 2/8/11
*IMPT NOTE!*
The amount of DNA that went into each digestion-ligation reaction on 2/9/11, the same reactions that were used in the pre-select PCR today was miscalculated. This error does not affect the mantle samples (still 0.8ug in each reaction), however, for the gill samples 2.6ug of the Qiagen extracted gill B was added and 0.2ug of the DNAzol gill B was added. This could certainly have an effect on enzyme efficiency, especially for the Qiagen sample, I am less worried about the impact of excess enzyme in the DNAzol sample.
Procedure:
Results:
gDNA isolation evaluation (left) The gel below is a 1% agarose/EtBr gel w/ 1ug of DNA loaded per lane. Qiagen extractions are in lane 2,3 & 7, DNAzol extractions are lanes 4,5 &6. Two gills samples were isolated with each procedure (gill A (ga) and gill B (gb)) and one mantle sample (m) was isolated. pre-select PCR (right): Qiagen (Q) and DNAzol (D) isolated gDNA from gill (g) and mantle (m) either Eco/HpaII digested (H) or Eco/MspI digested (M).
external image 20110210-xg7k6bj7myyiscy7tuxae3yrss.jpgexternal image 20110211-bk1ayk7p8si55u4hhkbkce1guu.jpg

In general, the DNAzol extracted samples show less degradation than the Qiagen extracted samples (or possibly Qiagen kit is better at pulling over the smaller sized fragments?). This needs to be taken into consideration along with the fact that the DNAzol also showed some type of carryover (as evidenced by A230 abs. maybe EtOH? DNAzol solution?). Can't tell much from the pre-select PCR other than the negative is clean and the digestion/ligation/PCR seemed to work.

2/9/11
Summary: complete gDNA isolations (Qiagen DNeasy kit & DNAzol) from 2/8/11 and digestion-ligation
Procedure:
gDNA isolations:
external image 20110209-86pfww6nmmbg77xredueut8x1t.jpg
external image 20110209-ngyjwb8qjjmcjgkbf4bndkuk32.jpg
*NOTE: forgot to adjust constant for dsDNA (defaults to 40)
Results:
DNAzol:
gill A: 61.05 ng/uL
gill B: 121.95 ng/uL
mantle: 141.5 ng/uL
Qiagen:
gill A: 547.15 ng/uL
gill B: 394.15 ng/uL
mantle: 146.7 ng/uL
Thoughts: Nothing can be said about yield here because I didn't normalize by weight. But both the A260/A280 and A260/A320 ratios are higher with the Qiagen kit. There is some carryover from the DNAzol procedure that is causing absorbance at 230nm. I will run the gDNA out on a gel w/ the pre-select PCR to get a better feel for the quality of the extraction.
digestion-ligation:

2/8/11
Summary: initiate gDNA isolations from fresh oyster gill and mantle using Qiagen DNeasy kit and DNAzol. Purpose is to evaluate the Qiagen extraction procedure for use in MSAP. So far I have only tried MSAP w/ gDNA isolated using DNAzol and the results have not been reproducible.
Procedure:

2/2/11
Summary: MSAP continued from 1/31/11, agarose gel analysis
Procedure:
Results:
Presentation1
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Conclusions/Next Steps:
genefish - Mac's Notebook
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1/31/11
Summary: MSAP continued from 1/27/11, selective PCR
Procedure:
Next step: run agarose gel and analyze banding patterns

1/27/11
Summary: MSAP continued from 1/26/11, pre-select PCR
Procedure:
Next step: perform selective PCR

1/26/11
Summary: run C.gigas gDNA on agarose gel to determine quality of starting material for MSAP digests performed 1/25/11. NOTE: digests performed by Caroline, samples were prepared in duplicate for each digestion-ligation reaction. Samples: A) parent 2 gonad (male) extracted 7/20/10, B) R037-08 April 2010 gill extracted: 11/13/10 (this DNA is from a different sample than the one used in previous MSAP trials (previous samples were extracted in Jun2010 by Sam)
Procedure:
Results:
Presentation1
Conclusion:
The parent 2 gonad sample looked somewhat degraded (a bit of a smear below the highest band). This sample was chosen because the gel from the original extraction showed little to no degradation. There was no band for the R037-08 April 2010 11/13/10 extracted sample. Maybe this is due to sample prep, or possibly the DNA is really degraded. The R037-08 April 2010 extracted Jun2010 showed some degradation as well, less sample was loaded here, so it's difficult to see for sure. Since I can't really say what happened with the R037 11/13/10 gDNA I am going to run the pre-select PCR for all 4 digestion-ligation samples and take a look at that on a gel.

12/16/10
Summary: MSAP select PCR
Procedure:
Results:
NOTE: Of the 3 MspI/EcoRI digests 2 are 'fresh' from 12/15/10, the 3rd is the pre-select PCR product stock from 12/9/10.


external image 20101217-cg4xxj1fjwdu794b9gng56eiis.jpg

external image 20101217-k566n1ayie38tcsr7qttyhk9da.jpg
Conclusions/Next Steps:
Currently, this method is not very reproducible. Triplicate Msp digests show strikingly different banding patterns. The first 2 lanes of Msp digests for each primer pair were performed at the same time, the third was performed earlier (12/9/10). These digests should look the same regardless of methylation pattern (all CCGG will cut). The HpaII digests, which could potentially show a different banding pattern between preps of the same tissue sample if the methylation patterns were different also look very different between the two digests performed from the same time (I don't really feel like the differences are due to diff in methylation since the reps are from the same DNA prep). These results could be due to either (or both): 1) incomplete digestion by the enzymes, which could be remedied by adding more enzyme or by spiking in additional enzyme later in the digest or 2) star activity due to non-specific cutting. I will look at these enzymes more to see how likely this second option is.

12/15/10
Summary: pre-select PCR w/ restriction-ligation samples prepped 12/14/10
Procedure:

12/14/10
Summary: restriction-ligation for MSAP analysis R037-08 (replicate samples) MspI and HpaII digests
Procedure:
NOTE: typo, adapters are at 40pm/uL and 4pm/uL (not nm) respectively
Microsoft Excel
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incubated at 37C ON

12/09/10-12/12/10
Summary: MSAP troublehsooting: 1) cont. pre-select PCR with restriction-digestion ligations from 12/2/10 (performed w/ fresh T4ligase and buffer), 2) selective PCR w/ 1U T4 ligase (neat and diluted)
Procedure:
Results:
lane 1) Hyperladder I , sample ID: 1U = 1U T4ligase, 0.6U = 0.06U T4ligase, dil1=1:8 dilution of 1U ligase, dil.6 = 1:8 dilution of 0.06U ligase
UVP00295.TIF
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Conclusions/Next Steps:
The sample from the original restriction ligation is shown in lane 6. The Apex master mix (in contrast to the last troubleshooting run) showed fantastic amplification using 1U of T4 ligase both neat and after a 1:8 dilution in water. I am not sure why the Amplitaq mastermix did not work with the 1U of ligase, but for the next step I will use the product from the neat Apex mastermix to perform the selective PCR with the 7 primer sets.
...CONT.:
selective PCR:
perform PCR w/ 4 selective primer sets using the product from the pre-select PCR for the Apex Mmix using 1U T4 ligase and the 1U T4 ligase diluted 1:8 (lanes 8 and 10 from above gel)
Results:
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Conclusions/Next steps:
It appears that we have a protocol ready to go. Using more ligase (1U/restriction-ligation reaction) produced lots of amplification in the expected range during the pre-select PCR. The banding pattern on the selective PCR was dependent on whether or not the restriction-ligation sample was diluted before the pre-select PCR, with the diluted sample showing more distinct banding (diluting is consistent with the protocol from Liu et al 2001). Going forward, will need to run both digest-ligation conditions (i.e.: EcoRI/MspI and EcoRI/HpaII) and do multiple restriction-ligations for the same sample to evaluate reproducibility. THEN, can take a look between experimental samples). This digest (EcoRI/MspI) was using gill tissue from 35x51 hybrids outplanted at SB for 10months.

12/07/10
Summary: complete C.gigas gDNA isolations from 12/06/10
Procedure:
some tissue was still visible in the tubes, spin 10k g for 10min at 4C, decant soln. into a clean tube and precipitate w/ 250uL 100% EtOH. Mix by inversion and let sit 3 min. Spin 5000g for 5 min at 5C. Discard liquid wash 2x w/ 800uL 75%EtOH (spin 2 min @ 1000g between washes), solubilize in 300uL 8M NaOH, add 30uL 0.1M HEPES to target pH 8.
quant:
120710.bmp
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Pooled replicates D and B together to get 50ug for Nanostring. Total vol was 642 uL, with a conc. of 78.9ng/uL, A260/A280 of 1.8 and A260/A230 of 1.2.

12/06/10
Summary: qPCR MSAP, gDNA extraction from oyster gill (for Nanostring, targeting 50ug of DNA from the same tissue sample)
qPCR:
From the smears on the gel 12/3/10, it is unclear what is amplifying (some blank lanes appear to have smears) and why, if there are PCR products, why no bands are observed (e.g. not enough resolution on the agarose gel?) Will run qPCR to see if there is amplification (via florescence) and see what the melt curves look like
gDNA isolation
Results:
The results here are inconclusive. While the run on the Roberts lab showed increased florescence at cycle 2, the blanks also showed increase in florescence around cycle 20. The Friedman lab results showed less amplification all around, but the blanks also showed increase in florescence. For both runs, the melt curves were a bit ambiguous.

12/03/10
Summary: MSAP selective PCR w/ 7 primer pairs. Run digested DNA from restriction-ligation troubleshooting on agarose gel
Procedure:
Microsoft Excel
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Results:
Lane ID: 1) Hyperladder I, 2-4) primer pair 1: blank, 20 cycle, 30 cycle, 5-7) primer pair 2: blank, 20 cycle, 30 cycle...and so on through primer pair 7
Presentation1
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12/2/10
Summary: troubleshoot MSAP from 11/30/10-12/01/10, specifically PCR conditions as well as restriction-ligation rxns.
Procedure:
PCR troubleshooting:
variables to troubleshoot: 1) MgCl concentration (can't tell this from Liu et al 2001), 2) Taq efficiency (try a different enzyme), 3) # of cycles insufficient (try increase to 30)
restriction-ligation troubleshooting:
variables to troubleshoot: the digest, the conditions of the digest-ligation, age of ligase, concentration of ligase
Results:
PCR/restriction-ligation troubleshooting:
Presentation1
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PCR: the Apex mmix did not show any amplification at at MgCl concentration. The Amplitaq preps appear to work at the high MgCl2 concentrations (3.5 and 4.5mM) with 30 cycles (possibly a little amplification at 20 cycles). The size distribution of the smear after PCR is similar to the restriction digest only samples (lane 12 of top and bottom) as expected since adapters are small.
restriction-ligation: the digests appear to be working, there is more cutting in the NEB recommended conditions (lane 12 top row), compared to digesting in the T4 ligase buffer (lane 12 bottom row). Going forward, I have a 2nd prep of the digest in NEB conditions that I can ligate. Maybe EtOH precipitate first to get rid of salts before ligating?


12/1/10
Summary: PCR of restriction-ligation samples (prepared by Sam 11/30/10) for MSAP
Procedure:
following procedure of Liu et al 2001
Results:
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Conclusions: Not what I expected. No amplification of any fragment sizes in any of the samples. Potential causes: 1) ligation did not work (the pre-selective primers will only bind to adapter sequence), or 2) the PCR did not work. If the problem is with the ligation it could be due to the age of the enzyme (T4 ligase 'expired' in 2009), or possibly the oligos didn't anneal correctly (T4 ligase will only bind ds DNA). To check if the problem is with 2) the PCR did not work, I need to double check the sequences of the oligos I ordered. That will be my first step because it will help w/ 1 or 2. If everything checks out then I will re-digest w/ fresh T4 ligase.

11/30/10
Summary: reconstitution an annealing of adapters for MSAP (methylation sensitive amplification polymorphism)
Procedure:
followed IDTs protocol for annealing oligos with the exception that T4 ligase buffer at a 1x concentration was used in lieu of Duplex Buffer.
sequences for adapters can be found in supplementary table 1 of Li et al 2008.

11/29/10
Summary: MSP (qPCR portion only, see Sam's notebook 11/29/10 for digest info) of double digested C.gigas samples using hsp70 and macrophage kinase primers
Procedure:
Results:
qPCR was run in the Friedman lab. Results can be found in Dropbox>Lab>Mac file name: Roberts Lab_2010-11-29 16-18-11_CC009827.pcrd
In summary, the blanks were negative as expected. The serial dilution of the undigested P11 gill tissue amplified at 1:10 and 1:100 dilution (~4ng and 0.4ng loaded respectively) for both primer sets. All of the undigested samples diluted to 1ng/uL amplified. Although these samples were normalized, the Ct's were a couple cycles different for all of these samples. This is likely due to the fact that the nanodrop is not accurate at such low concentrations. The results for the MspI digests were as expected (no amplification) for all samples except the P11 gonad sample (both primer sets) and the P30 gonad sample (hsp70 primer set). All of the unknown samples were determined to be methylated at the hsp70 CpG site and unmethylated at the macrophase kinase CpG sites.

11/17/10 *NOTES*
Published procedures for digesting genomic DNA to completion:
Wang et. al., 2004 - 3h/37C/10Uenzyme per ug DNA, phenol chloroform extraction, EtOH precipitation, repeat from beginning
Dong et. al., 2006 - 10U enzyme per ug DNA, 48 hr digestion

11/16/10
Summary: complete EtOH precipitation of R037 fractions separated using MethylMiner kit. Quantify fractions.
Procedure:
111610.bmp
Results:
The 260/280s are a little higher for this round compared to the first run performed 11/10/10. I didn't notice any beads in the fractions this time, so improved ratios are probably due to more care being taken when pulling the fractions out of the tube. Also of general note, this run had lower total recovery than the first run performed 11/10/10 (63% compared to 92%)
Control DNA: 100% total recovery (1ug), 80% was in non-captured fraction, 20% was in 1000mM NaCl fration and 0% was in 2000mM NaCl fraction (most methylated). This is generally consistent with expected results (by PCR analysis, not direct quantitation) 70% in super, 30% in captured
Sample DNA: 63% total recovery (7.3ug at the beginning 4.6ug at the end). Here is the breakdown:
non-captured supernatant: 3.6ug (78% of DNA recovered)
1000mM eluted fraction: 0.7ug (15% of DNA recovered)
2000mM eluted fraction (this would be the highly methylated fraction): 0.3 ug (7% of recovered DNA)
Conclusions/Next Step: The recovery was lower overall compared to the 11/10/10 run, but the breakdown %wise of each fraction was similar.
Follow-up: PCR was performed to
cont...
PCR for control DNA
PCR products were stored at -20 run on a gel 12/01/10
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11/15/10
Summary: complete EtOH precipitation of and perform MethylMiner procedure for R037 pooled oyster sample.
Procedure:

11/13/10
Summary:finish DNA isolations (R037 April 2010) from 11/12/10, pool R037 DNA and initiate EtOH precipitation
Procedure:
finish DNA isolations: no tissue was visible, spin 10k g for 10min at 4C, decant soln. into a clean tube and precipitate w/ 250uL 100% EtOH. Mix by inversion and let sit 3 min. Spin 5000g for 5 min at 5C. Discard liquid wash 2x w/ 800uL 75%EtOH, solubilize in 200uL 8M NaOH, add 20uL 0.1M HEPES to target pH 8.
quant:
111310.bmp
pool and EtOH precipitate: pool gDNA of 8 individuals to target 10ug total, need to EtOH precipitate to conc. to 100uL for fragmentation in Covaris
add 1250ng each of the following RO37 samples collected in April 2010 to a tube

11/12/10
Summary: A) run control DNA PCR reactions on gel, B) bioanalyze fractions of RO51 DNA from MethylMiner separation (see 11/11/10), C)start DNA isolation for R037
A) Results from pos. control DNA MethylMiner performed 11/11/10. For the pos. control known methylated and non-methylated fragments are spiked into a provided control DNA (they do not recommend spiking your sample due potential to specificity issues with the primers), then after fractionation you can assess the separation of the methylated DNA into the bound fractions, and the non-methylated DNA in the non-captured fraction.
lane ID:
M = methylated control DNA primesr, NM=non-methylated control DNA primers
1) 50 bp ladder
2) M mix meth and non-meth control DNA
3) M control non-captured (supe)
4) M control 1000mM NaCl Eluate 1
5) M control 2000mM NaCl Eluate 2
6) M blank
7) NM mix meth and non-meth control DNA
8) NM control non-captured DNA (supe)
9) NM control 1000mM NaCl Eluate 1
10) NM control 2000mM NaCl Eluate 2
11) NM blank
12) Hyperladder 1 (smallest band 200bp)
UVP00290.pdf
results are as expected! the methylated DNA is found primarily in the 1000mM NaCl Eluate 1 (lane 4), while the non-methylated control DNA is found primarily in the non-captured supernatant (lane 8). The 50bp ladder did not show up, but the band size is approximately correct being smaller than 200 bp. The positive spiked DNA (mix of non-meth and meth control DNA in water (lanes 7 and 2 respectively) had a band present as expected.
B) Bioanalyze MethylMiner Fractions - R051 pool
C) DNA isolation of R037 samples *NOTE: insufficient gDNA remains from original isolation, so starting a few more isolations to make a pool of 8 individuals 10ug total*


11/11/10
Summary: completed EtOH precipitations and quantited DNA fractionated using MethylMiner kit (see 11/10/10 for start of procedure)
Procedure:
followed mfr instructions for MethylMiner Kit to complete EtOH precipitation
Results:
My first observation is that overall the 260/280s are low. This may be due to residual MBD protein either alone or attached to a bead. Also of note, for samples 10ng/uL and lower, you can't really detect a 'peak' at 260, it all looks like baseline. With that said:
Control DNA: 100% total recovery (1ug), 60% was in non-captured fraction, 30% was in 1000mM NaCl fration and 10% was in 2000mM NaCl fraction (most methylated). This is pretty consistent with expected results (by PCR analysis, not direct quantitation) 70% in super, 30% in captured
Sample DNA: 92% total recovery (9ug at the beginning 8.3ug at the end). Here is the breakdown:
non-captured supernatant: 6.1ug (73% of DNA recovered)
1000mM eluted fraction: 1.5ug (18% of DNA recovered)
2000mM eluted fraction (this would be the highly methylated fraction): 0.5 ug (6% of recovered DNA)

Conclusions and Next Steps:
The manufacturer's protocol says to expect 3 - 20% of your DNA to be eluted in the 'methylated' fration if doing a single step elution. This is based off mammalian DNA (I assume), so I wasn't sure what to expect w/ oyster DNA. The range though is similar, about 20% was bound to the beads before recovery of methylated DNA. Most of this bound DNA came off in the lower salt buffer. Technically all 3 fractions have enough DNA to go into SOLiD fragment DNA library prep (range 10ng - 5ug).

The next step for this MethylMiner run would be to perform a PCR w/ the control DNA to make sure the methylated DNA was bound and eluted properly.

The next step for sample prep would be to repeat this procedure with the R037 (SB) sample*. This procedure worked pretty well, so I wouldn't change anything except try to be more careful so I don't transfer beads to the fractions. I may call Invitrogen about this, because I'm not sure how to improve this step.I would also consider running each of the fractions on the bioanalyzer to verify fragment length and possible fragment size bias.

*But here is option 2..since recovery was good, I could run the procedure again with 5ug of each sample (repeat R051 and add R037) but change the salt concentrations to 500mM NaCl and 2000 NaCl to get a more even distribution. If I would have been paying more attention, I would have noticed at the 80% of the control methylated DNA comes off in the 1000mM NaCl fraction and 20% in even less conc. salt elutions. I would be more confident about going this route if I knew the minimum amount of starting material the downtown sequencing facility would start w/ for library prep and if I tested these samples on the bioanalyzer.

Either way, once both samples are complete, they will be ready for library prep.
cont...
PCR for control DNA
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11/10/10
Summary: performed MethylMiner protocol to make methylation enriched oyster DNA fractions
Procedure:
Next step: finish EtOH precipitation.

11/09/10
Summary: prepared a pool of oyster gill DNA (R051 collected April 2010) for EtOH precipitation targeting 10ug in 100uL of TE for use in MethylMiner kit
Procedure:

10/26/10
Summary: RACE (3' and 5') for C.gigas DNMT1 using 2 sets of RACE ready cDNA
Procedure:
Results:
1) ladder, 2) 5'RACE cDNA SW, 3) 5'RACE cDNA MG, 4) GSP + SW, 5) GSP + MG, 6) 5'UPM, 7) 5'GSP, 8) 3'RACE cDNA SW, 9) 3'RACE cDNA MG, 10) GSP + SW, 11) GSP + MG, 12) 3'UPM, 13) 3'GSP
UVP00285_102610.tiff
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bands were cut from lanes 2 and 3
Conclusions & Next Step:
Only the 5'cDNA amplified product. The bands are about 900bp in length. It is possible if the 3' PCR was performed again w/ a lower annealing temp, that amplification would occur. The next step is to squence the 5' bands and to repeat the 3' PCR with a lower temp.

10/15/10 & 10/18/10
Summary: Traditional PCR to test DNMT1 primers
10/15/10
Procedure:
Samples: cDNA C.gigas gill (date 10/30/08), gDNA DH14 gill (extracted5/19/09)

Mmix: (25uL total rxns, 1uL template)
2 blanks, 1 cDNA, 1gDNA for each primer pair (prepped mmix for 5 samples):
62.5uL 2x Apex Mmix
2.5uL 10uM primer F
2.5uL 10uM primer R
52.5uL H20
24 uL Mmix/rxn

Four primer pairs total:
1) Cg_Cv/CgDNMT1a_F & R (cDNA: 1,116 bp expected)
2) Cg_Cv/CgDNMT1b_F & R (cDNA: 417 bp expected)
3)Cg_Cv/CgDNMT1a_F & Cg_Cv/CgDNMT1b_R (cDNA: 782 bp expected)
4)Cg_Cv/CgDNMT1b_F & Cg_Cv/CgDNMT1a_R (cDNA: 751 bp expected)
PCR:
95C 10min

40 cycles:
95 15sec
55 30sec
72 2 min

72 10 min
10/18/10
Procedure:
prep 0.8% agarose EtBr gel, and run all samples (20uL each) w/ Hyperladder I as ladder
Imaged gel then cut out bands
Results:
legend: (c) cDNA (g) gDNA (b) blank
UVP00284.TIF
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The primers did not give the expected band sizes
(see above for description of primer pair and expected band size)
primer pair 1) no band in cDNA or gDNA
primer pair 2) 1 band >1000bp in cDNA, expected ~ 400bp, some smearing in both lanes <1000 (cut out cDNA band)
primer pair 3) 1 band ~ 400 in cDNA and gDNA, expected 782bp (cut out cDNA band)
primer pair 3) 1 band >1000bp in cDNA, no band in gDNA, expected band size 751 (cut out cDNA band)

Conclusions:
None of the primer pairs gave the expected band sizes. The sequence used to design primers was made from a 'hybrid' of a C.virginica sequence and a C.gigas sequence that overlapped, so this may be the intended gene it's just a different size in gigas, or it's possible that it's just non-specific amplification. Can try direct sequencing to determine if it's intended region.
Next step:
5' and 3' RACE off C.gigas gene specific primers to get more sequence. Direct sequencing of today's cut bands.

10/7/10
Summary: looking for DNMT1 seq. in C.gigas.
There are 2 sequences in Gigasbase w/ homology (blastx) to DNMT1: CU994437 and CU994437. These two sequences align almost completely w/ a bit of sequence extending on both the 5' and 3' ends
alignment of CU994437 & CU997533 homol to DNMT1 (Alignment)
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This consensus sequence is 755 bp. A blastx of this concensus seq results in top hits to DNMT1
NCBI Blast:Nucleotide Sequence (755 letters)
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in a +1 frame. The area of consensus is highlighted below, the translation of the sequence is included
consensus of CU994437 & CU997533 homol to DNMT1 consensus sequence (Sequence)-1
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NOTE: a blastn also has DNMT1 top hits for example:
NCBI Blast:Nucleotide Sequence (755 letters)
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Also tried blastn against C.gigas GSS sequences (including bac clones) w/ no positive hits.
There is also a C.viriginica EST that has DNMT1 as a top BLAST hit. I did an alignment of the C.virginica sequence (CD647314) and there was some overlap
virginica & gigas consensus (Alignment)-1
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Next Steps:
1)Double check the NGS data to see if there is any additional sequence, I don't think there is.
2) Design primers for 5'RACE and maybe 3' RACE (even though consensus seems to have polyA?).
3) Design primers on the consensus sequence, to PCR both gDNA and cDNA to get an idea of gene structure


10/01/10
Summary: side-by-side w/ SOLiD purification kit and Pure-Link PCR purification kit (both Invitrogen).
Purpose: Troubleshoot failed SOLiD libraries (no recovery). I think it may have something to do with the purification kit (column based, comes with library kit) because I have yields of 45% after fragmentation, end-repair, purification. The protocol says to assume a yield around 70%. This purification kit is used 4 times during the library process, so starting w/ ~5ug of DNA the most recovery I could have gotten after 4 purification steps w/ 45% recovery each time is 200ng. This is maximum as I'm sure there is loss during size selection on the E-gel as well. So the columns are probably not the whole problem, since I didn't even recovery 200ng, but it seems like it could be a major contributor. So, just to make sure I didn't prepare the buffers incorrectly or something just as goofy, I'm running the SOLiD purification kit that I'm troubleshooting against the PureLink PCR purification kit that we use for the Whole Transcriptome Libraries.
Procedure:

Results:
nano 100110.bmp
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Conclusions:
With 100% recovery I would have expected 21ng/uL recovery, but realistically I should be getting around 70% recovery or 14.7ng/uL.
What I actually got was 14% recovery for the PureLink columns (P-C), regardless of buffer (S-B or PL-B), and 30% recovery for the SOLiD columns regarless of buffer. Since results were not buffer dependent I'll asume it's not the buffers (I was worried I may have prepped them incorrectly). The recovery on the SOLiD columns was even lower than the 45% I originally had. Possibly the recoveries get worse with less starting material? That is disappointing. I will refrain from drawing conclusions about the PureLink columns directly since I didn't follow the 'exact' procedure, but I would not suggest deviating from that procedure in the future. I did communicate w/ tech support at ABI earlier about the recovery issue and he said that they usually see 70% recovery, but was not shocked to hear about the 50% recovery. He suggested the use of the PureAmp beads to increase yield. While I can't definitively say that the columns are where all of the loss occurred, it seems like it's certainly contributing to the problem.


9/13/10
Summary: amplified MeDIP enriched libraries (library prep started 9/7/10 (see below) -->9/10/10)
Procedure:

9/10/10
Summary: completed MeDIP procedure (from 9/9/10), initiated DNA extraction/purification.
Procedure:


9/9/10
Summary: continued MeDIP procedure from 9/9/10: added beads, separated antibody-bound fractions, proK overnight
Procedure:
Next steps: Perform phenol/chloroform extraction of samples



9/8/10

Summary: Continue w/ SOLiD library prep from 9/7/10: Shearing the DNA through Nick Translation. Initiated MeDIP procedure
Procedure:
nano 090810.bmp
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Next Steps: continue w/ MeDIP procedure - one more overnight digestion, should be done by Friday.

9/7/10
Summary: performed nick-translation of 2 SOLiD libraries (see 9/01/10), then performed PCR amplification (this was a mistake, as MeDIP should have been performed prior to PCR). Re-pooled gDNA of the same samples to start over, and initited EtOH precipitation of samples.
Procedure:
Nick Translation and PCR:
Generate pool for new samples/EtOH precipitation:
Microsoft Excel-47
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Next Step: Complete EtOH precipitation and fragment.

9/01/10
Summary: Cont. from 8/30/10. Library prep: size selected DNA (pages 14 - 15 of SOLiD 3 Plus System Library Preparation Guide October 2009)
Procedure:
Next step: I need to nick translate the DNA before the immunoprecipitation (IP). thank goodness for tech support! I contacted ABI about regarding the nick translation as it is included in with the PCR step in the protocol. I definitely don't want to do any PCR before IP, but was not sure about the nick translation. Turns out, need to do the nick translation first as the P1 and P2 adaptors are unphosphorylated so only 1 strand on both adaptors gets a phophodiester bond. The opposite strand will have a nick until it is filled during nick translation (otherwise, 1 adaptor per fragment would fall off after denaturing which would be bad).
Plan:
Gmail - ChIPSeq info - macgavery@gmail.com
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8/31/10
Summary: Cont. from 8/30/10. Library prep: end repaired fragmented DNA, ligated adapters, attempted size selection (pages 10 - 15 of SOLiD 3 Plus System Library Preparation Guide October 2009).

Procedure:
Preview
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nano 083110.bmp
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8/30/10
Summary: pooled and sheared gDNA from SB and WB hybrid oysters (April 2010 collection) for SOLiD DNA fragment library prep (MeDIP-seq) and fragmented using the Covaris.
Purpose: To prepare SOLiD DNA fragment libraries, enriched in methylated fractions (via MeDIP), of oyster gill tissue from sibling oysters 35 x 51 hybrids raised in different environmental conditions (Samish Bay and Willapa Bay) for 1 year. Sam has already done MeDIP on a similar pool (6/10), but in order to generate the libraries the adapters must be ligated to blunt-ended duplex DNA, the result of MeDIP is double stranded, so for this prep the DNA will be fragmented and adapters ligated prior to MeDIP.
Procedure:


8/4/10
Summary: finished dot blot from 8/3/10
Procedure:
Results:
Presentation1
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Conclusions/Next Steps:
There are some trends, but to ensure same amount of DNA loaded (see gel from 7/22/10 where 'normalized' amount of DNA was run) need to find a way to normalize better. Will try quant software to normalize based on intensity of color in band from 7/22/10 gel. One thing that stands out to me is that the female gonad sample from a control animal appears to be less methylated than any of the male gonad samples. I need to check - are both egg and sperm haploid? I think oocytes are diploid. Not sure if it matters.

8/3/10
Summary: start dot blot of oyster parents used in spawn 7/1/10
Procedure:
Microsoft Excel
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7/22/10
Summary: EtOH precipitation of C.gigas gonad samples, 7/20/10, run samples (plus gill samples on gel to check quality of DNA)
Procedure:
Results:
Nanodrop:
nano 072210.bmp
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Gel:
Presentation1
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Conclusions:
Precipitation did not improve the 260/230. Still largest peak was at 230. Results from the gel show that the quantitation for these samples is not that reliable because of this (some much brighter than others). In general, it appears that the gametic tissue is less degraded than the gill tissue.



7/20/10
Summary: complete DNA isolation initiated 7/19/10
Procedure:
Results:
Nanodrop Results:
nano gill 072010.bmp
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plots of gonad samples:
nano plot gonad 072010.bmp
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Conclusions: gill samples look fine, gonad samples have HIGH abs. at 230. Images of plot above. Not sure why - Sam looked back at his notebook and the gonad sample he processed last week also had the lowest 260/230 ratio. I blanked w/ the appropriate blank, but it is also possibly not good that I added 1M HEPES instead of 0.1M. Regardless, will initiate an EtOH precipitation of the gonad samples to get rid of junk that may be absorbing at 230.
Next Step: initatiate EtOH precipitation for gonad samples. Divided samples due to vol constraints. Added 0.1vol NaOAc and 2x vol ice cold 100% ETOH. Placed in -20 (small) will continue procedure Thursday.

7/19/10
Summary: start DNA isolation of F0 generation of oysters (gonad and gill tissue) from heritability experiment - spawned 7/01/10
Procedure: for the following samples, ~25mg tissue, 500uL DNAzol, 20uL proteinase K on rotator overnight:
NOTE: the numbers correspond w/ sex determination results, see notes 7/01/10: #2, #28, #23, #10, #11, #17, #19, #30, #31

7/12/10
Summary: MSP qPCR
Procedure: layout, primers, samples here

7/7/10
Summary: notes on larvae from Nate Wight, restriction digests
Mack's oysters July 2010.xlsx
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7/6/10
Summary: qPCR w/ MSP primers for: hsp70, and macrophage exp. protein 1 - like protein using digested oyster samples prepared by Sam 7/2/10
Microsoft Excel
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7/05/10
Summary: notes re. water change and feeding larvae @ hatchery


07/01/10
Summary: notes re spawning @ hatchery

6/30/10
Summary: complete EtOH precipitation, qPCR w/ MSP primers for: hsp70, Cyp450, and macrophage exp. protein 1 - like protein
Procedure:

6/29/10
Summary: stop digests from 6/28, initiate EtOH precipitation
Procedure:

06/28/10
Summary: restriction digests of oyster DNA: larvae (control, 5-aza tx), adult (control, 5-aza tx), 35x51 line (SB R037 01 -jun 2010, WB RO51 - jun 2010), CO2 expt ('air' no stress, 'CO2' no stress)
Procedure:
digest prep.xlsx
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Next step: heat stop digests at 16hr -> PCR w/ MSP primers

6/23/10
Summary: finish dot blot from 6/22/10
Procedure:
Results:
nanodrop results of pre-dilutions:
(the order of loading for each of these replicates is unknown unfortunately)
062410.bmp
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dot blot:
Presentation1
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actual loads based on spec of pre-dilution:
Microsoft Excel
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Conclusions/Next Steps:
Positive and negative controls look good (fruit fly DNA is very light, even at 0.8ug ). The samples are not really visually different, based on the specs of the pre-dilution the samples were loaded at the same conc. Next step is to use ImageJ software to quantitate dots.


6/22/10
Summary: dot blot (probe for 5mC). samples: oyster larvae (5-aza treated and control) in triplicate, + control (mammal), -control (fruit fly)
Procedure:
dot blot dilutions.xlsx
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Next Steps: blot tomorrow

6/18/10
Summary: finish dot blot from 6/17/10
Procedure:
Results:
Presentation1
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Conclusions/Next Steps: The blanks look good, the positive control DNA is positive (no dose response though), also impt to note that I am not sure about the methylation status of this DNA (i.e. what tissue, cell line, disease state etc). The 1:10,000 dilution looks good. Will use that going forward. It's interesting that the oyster and mammal DNA show similar intensities, I would have expected the oyster to be less. Also very interesting to note that the treated sample is visably lighter at the 0.2ug concentration (maybe not as obvious for the others?), suggesting that the DNA of larvae treated w/ 5-azacytidine is less methylated. Next step will be to use software to try to quantitate these results.

6/17/10
Summary: dot blot 'take 2' w/ anti-5MeC. Samples: larval oyster expt (control and tx w/ 5-aza), mammalian pos. control DNA. changes: diff primary antibody dilution (1:5,000 and 1:10,000) and diff conc. of DNA on blot (start a little lower and increase range on low end)
Procedure:
dot blot dilutions.xlsx
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Next Step: probe w/ antibody tomorrow.

6/16/10
Summary: dot blot part II - using Western Breeze kit
Procedure:
Results:
exposure time 10 min
Presentation1
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Conclusions:
Good news, binding! Bad news, looks really blown out (no dose response). Will have to adjust dilutions. Surprised that the human DNA looks as dark as the oyster, but if it's just so blown out I may just not be seeing these differences. Regarding exposure time - 2min, I feel is too short for getting the whole membrane coated evenly, 10 min about right, 30 minutes was way over exposed with the concentrations I chose.

6/15/10
Summary:
A) dot-blot analysis for 5-MeC in larval oyster DNA exposed to 5-aza, larval oyster control, mammallian DNA (positive control DNA)
B) sample 5-aza treated oysters (adults 51x51 line) found dead today
A) Procedure:
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NEXT STEPS: tomorrow will continue w/ blotting even though my curves will be off due to loss of sample at boiling step (rookie move - ahrg)

B) Procedure/Results
found 4 dead oysters today from the 5-aza treated group (51 x 51) treated w/ 50mg/L for 13 days
two were pretty dead, didn't sample. two were 'freshly' dead, sampled gill and mantle (put in -80C box w/ pilot samples). stored all 4 animals in -20
NOTE: 1 more almost dead, discovered later. couldn't really keep it's valves closed, but the adductor was still pulling a bit. sampled gill and mantle. put sample/oyster with the other samples
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6/14/10
Summary: solution prep for dot blot

20X SSC
198.6g NaCl
100g sodium citrate
pH adjust to 7.0
QS to 1.133L

Denaturation Solution (1.5M NaCl/0.5M NaOH)
21.9g NaCl
5g NaOH
QS to 250mL

Neutralization Solution (1M NaCl/0.5 M Tris-Base, pH 7.0)
(note: solution called for Tris-HCl)
14.6g NaCl
15.2g Tris-Base
pH adjust to 7.0 using conc. HCl
QS to 250 mL

all solutions stored @ RT



6/9/10
Summary: run gDNA from oyster larvae (extracted by Sam 6/8/10) to assess quality
Procedure:
loaded 250 ng DNA from control and 5-aza treated oyster larvae on 0.8% agarose gel.
Results:
061010.tiff (image/tiff Object)
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Conclusion/Next steps: looks great, can go forward w/ dot blot procedures and making bisulfite treated SOLiD libraries.


6/7/10
Summary: visual inspection of larvae treated w/ 5-aza, then started DNA isolation of samples
Procedure:
Pictures:
mon control 10x b.JPG (JPEG Image, 2048x1536 pixels) - Scaled (39%)
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Observations: much easier to tell if alive or dead under compund scope. Even when they are not actively swimming, you can see moving internal structures. Did not observe any difference between control and treated samples. Maybe fewer moving in the treated samples, but I don't know how to quantify that. Will need to figure out for next time.
Next Steps: finish isolating DNA.

6/3/10
Summary: treatment of larvae w/ 5-azacytidine
Procedure:
Observation:
Photos:
top: control, bottom: treated. Images taken using Friedman lab dissecting scope
fri cntrl dissecting.JPG (JPEG Image, 2048x1536 pixels) - Scaled (39%)
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5/26/10
Summary: finish DNA isolation of gill samples from 5-aza pilot study, restriction digests, run on gel
Procedure:
DNA isolation:
052610 nanodata.bmp
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abs at 230 high. Ethanol carryover?
Next Step:
Go forward with digests - HpaII, MspI for all samples

Restriction digests
(also included Amanda's samples)
digest prep.xlsx
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Results:
Gel
0.8% agarose, half of digest loaded (25uL ~ 0.5ug), EtBr gel, 1h/100V
labels: U - undigested, H - HpaII, M - MspI
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original images in: Dropbox>Lab>Mac>052610gel
Conclusions:
DNA isolations look pretty decent, still some smearing for undigested. If de-methylation was occurring as expected, I would expect to see the HpaII smear shift closer to MspI w/ more time in treatment. This is qualitative so hard to read. Maybe 120h? but less DNA in these wells and 144h looks similar to others.
Next steps:
Maybe bioanalyzer - crap, I knew there was a reason I should have heat stopped those. Maybe loading dye doesn't matter for bioanalyzer??

05/25/10
Summary: attempt at DNA isolation of 5-azacytidine pilot samples, dose oyster larvae w/ 3 conc. of 5-azacytidine to observe behavior/mortality, re-start DNA isolation
Samples for DNA isolation:
5-azacytidine pilot study w/ juvenile oysters. Six day trial w/ treatment being refreshed every other day (100mg/L in a total of 2L):
control (24h), treatment (24h, 48h, 72h, 96h, 120h, 144h), treatment -> 'fresh' H20 (non treated) (48h treatment/24h fresh, 48h treatment/48h fresh)
Procedure:
DNA isolation: using DNAzol, followed mfr protocol using proK step for homogenization (0.5mL DNAzol, 20uL proK from Qiagen kit (conc.?)) overnight -started 5/24/10). After proK, still had a lot of tissue that was not homogenized. Solubilized in 8mM NaOH. Spec showed low to no recovery. Not sure what happened exactly, but I am positive that I started w/ too much tissue. Will repeat with 0.3ug (measured) to make sure.
larvae/5-azacytidine: aliquoted ~ 10 larvae in 2.8mL seawater into 6 wells of a 12 well plate (this is hard to do, w/ low conc. of larvae to get the same # per well, did a lot of pipette transferring then volume modification). Time of prep: 11:30am
DNA isolation - take 2

04/29/10
Summary: restriction digests: fruit fly, urchin, human, oyster
Procedure:
NOTE: urchin DNA reading was not accurate, so for today's digests I added the same vol. of sample as I did for the fly. This is just and estimation. Will need to re-isolate using a diff. kit
Dilutions:
digest prep.xlsx
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Results:
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04/28/10
Summary: Isolated gDNA from fruit flies and sea urchin tube foot
Procedure:
Results:
NOTE: also did quant of human DNA received from an outside source
042810 urchin and fly.bmp
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042810 urchin and fly plots.bmp
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I think the purple color is affecting absorbance. Would like to re-try using Power Soil or Stool kit. Other samples are ready for digestion. Will do digestions of all samples tomorrow.

4/23/10
Summary: gel image of fruit fly DNA (* see below, fruit fly DNA was obtained from Genome science) and oyster samples (oyster DNA was isolated around August 09)
digests performed by Sonia, gel run by Sam
Results:
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4/01/10 - 4/04/10
Field data April 2010
data sheets


2/12/10
Summary: qPCR (x2) - MSP primers and BSP primers (w/ CCGG restriction sites), samples: digested oyster samples 'neat' and EtOH precipitated
Procedure: layout, primers, samples here and here


2/9/10
Summary: repeat PCR from 2/8/09 using qPCR include 2nd round digests. Second qPCR w/ additional primers also performed
1st qPCR Procedure:
1st qPCR Results:
1st qPCR Conclusions:
2nd qPCR Procedure:
2nd qPCR Results & Conclusions:


2/8/10
Summary:run PCR samples from 2/05/10 on gel
Results:
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Conclusions:
2nd round of digestion: performed a 2nd round of digestion for sample BB02 1ug/10U enzyme and BB02 1ug/10U enzyme EtOH precipitated: 10uL original digest, 2uL 10x buffer, 7uL 20 and 0.5uL (MspII) or 1uL (HpaI) enzyme.

2/05/10
Summary: EtOH precipitate restriction digests from 2/4/10, run test PCR with 2 primer sets A4 and A11.
Procedure:
EtOH precipitation: for one batch of restriction digests with 1ug DNA/10U enzymes, did an ethanol precipitation. 50uL sample, 5uL NaOac, 100uL EtOH (ice cold), -20C for 1 hr.. spin max 15 min, decant, wash 500uL 70% EtOH mix max 5 min decant, 30uL H20 final volume. NOTE: also tried to EtOH undigested PCR samples (primers AJ_8882, AJ_9316 from PCR performed 2/1/10), but only had 5uL starting material and recoveries were really bad (see quant below).
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PCR procedure: used primers A4 and A11 previously gave single band at expected size.
see layout and mmix prep here
Conclusions:
Not great recoveries from EtOH precipitation, start w/ 2ug next time. Used 1ug DNA, so expect 20ng/uL for final concentation in 50uL of digest material - so these are kind of close to expected. Undigested sample for Adult gigas 1 did not get any recovery, and low recovery for MspI BB02.
Next Steps:
Run gel

2/04/10
Summary: run Amanda & Mac side-by-side PCR and some PCR from 2/010/10 on gel. Prep restriction digests
Results for Gel:
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Labels: U=undigested, H=HpaII, M=MspI; Primer ID numbers are the first 2 letters and last 4 numbers of NCBI Accession
AJ_2213: AJ12213 pgm gene, AJ_3432: AJ543432 tolloid like exon 1-18, AJ_9910: AJ579915 IRP1, AM_5551: AM265551 mtIV, AY_0003: AY660003 CAA gene
NOTE: I may have overloaded well 8 on the top which could have contributed to band in lane 9 H20

Side-by-side PCR shows contamination in H20 for at least 1 of Amanda's samples (the other one is possible overload of adjacent well). I don't think the contamination accounts for the presence of the bands in U and H wells as band intensity is much greater, prior to this run U and H did not have bands in consecutive PCRs. Next step is to repeat PCR to get clean water. Cause for no bands in previous PCRs undetermined.
For testing new primer sets, results are not as expected. For AJ_2213, the primers do not amplify, for AJ_3432 band is the correct size for U (686bp), but additional bands in H and M, for AJ_9910 the band should be 870, and did not get expected size, for AM_551 band is expected size (415 bp), U and H have additional band right below main band. AY_0003: U has expected band size (542 bp), but very faint, M does not show a band at that size, and H shows many bands.
Conclusion:
The restriction digests are not working as expected. Enzymes appear to work as Sonia has used them this week. Likely incomplete digestions, or possible sequences are wrong and no restriction sites exist in target sequence. The latter is unlikely because all of the primer sets show same results. Other troubling thing is presence of extra bands in digest gel. DNA is not purified after restriction digest and possible that buffers/enzyme mix is screwing up PCR conditions.
Next steps:
Run restriction digests overnight. Include enzyme/buffer only controls. Ethanol precipitate DNA prior to use in PCR
Procedure Restriction digests:
prepared restriction digests for 2 oyster gill samples BB02 (Jun09) and adult gill gigas 1 (BB02 stored in RNAlater prior to isolation, adult gigas gill 1 was isolated directly (oyster from tank in basement of FISH))
3 digest sets set up:
2 of them were 1ug of DNA and 10U of enzyme. This is the normal set-up. Performed in duplicate because I will EtOH precipitate 1 batch of these. The 3rd batch used 1ug DNA, 20U enzymes.
All digests were incubated at 37C for 16hr, then heat inactivated for 20 min (HpaII 65C, MspI 80C).
see preps here

2/03/10
Summary: side-by-side PCR w/ Amanda to troubleshoot differences in PCR using A3 primers (see Amanda's notebook for description)
Procedure:
Use A3 primers and make 2 mastermixes. 1 to use 1uL template, 1 to use 2uL template both in 25 uL rxn using 1x Apex mmix and pooled BB sample.

2/01/10
Summary: PCR, testing primers for genomic DNA sequences. Nine total.
Procedure:
mastermix and plate layout info - here
Results:


1/25/09
Summary: qPCR to check for completeness of restriction digests performed 1/22/10 (see Amanda's notebook)
Procedure:
Results:
primer A3: U, H and M were "positive" (showed amplification). The H amplified after the U, but before the M.
primer A4: U positive, H negative, M negative
primer A10: U, H and M were postive, although H & M amplified later
primer A11: U, H and M were positive - but H and M were quite late.
Results of Gel:
see Amanda's notebook for 1/25/10
primer A3: U, H and & M were positive-band size as expected
primer A4: U positive, H negative, M negative - band size as expected
primer A10, U, H and M were positive (although qualitatively, H and M may have been a bit less intense) - band size as expected
primer A11: U and H postive, but M was negative - band size smaller than expected: ~400bp not the epected 672 bp
Conclusions:
The goal of this PCR was to repeat the initial experiment with longer digestion times to see if partial digestion (assumed to be the issue with the first experiment (11/23 - 12/02) could be overcome. The results are not that straight forward however.
The results for A3 are not surprising as the amplicon does not contain a CCpGG restriction site. I originally had thought this was a methylated site based on qPCR because H had amplified later with M. I think this result shows me that qPCR should probably be used for analysis once the primer sets have been validated using qPCR
The results for primer set A4 are as expected for complete digestion. U is positive and M is negative. H is also negative indicating that the site is not methylated. The band size is as expected, so I can confidently say this site is not methylated. - Both qPCR and gel told me the same thing
The results for A10 indicate that something is not working since M is positive. Either a) there is partial digestion at this site, which I feel is less likely since primer set A4 showed complete digestion or b) the sequence does not contain a restriction site. The band is the correct size, so it is likely the expected amplicon. However, there could be differences in the sequence at the restriction site in this sample (i.e. 1 or more of the 4 base pairs CCGG is different). We could sequence this band to check.
Next steps:


1/6/09
Summary: there are a few diff methods, days used to experimentally evaluate DNA methylation. Will keep a running tally here: Dropbox>Lab>Bioindicator>Methylation>Summary of Experimental Results.
To date, it looks like this:
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there are more primers that worked for the restriction digest PCR that did not show DNA methylation. Still need to add those to the table.

12/30/09
Summary: sequencing results for bisulfite treated and non treated samples
NOTES:
In general, designing bisulfite primers is not easy. My first mistake was assuming I could use the same primers for the treated and non treated sample. The bisulfite treated samples have no cytosines (except for the methylated C's at CpG sites), so the original sequence is all T, A and G. The reduced complexity makes it hard to design unique primers. I found at least 1 program that will check primers against genomic data bases, but of course it's only for human and rat databases
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For primer pair H5 (EST: AM858698), both treated and non treated samples matched up the expected amplicon. The top blast hit for this contig in the Signae db is for human neuromdin-u receptor. 1 of 7 CpG sites is methylated. Image below is using Kismeth tool. I've been playing around w/ it and it appears that it can not "BLAST" a large sequence, but if you put in the extracted original sequence and the bisulfite treated sequence, it will show matches, make dot plots etc. This tool was designed for plants, so it also looks for methylation at CHG and CHH sites.
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For primer pair L1, the treated and non-treated did not match up w/ expected, however the nontreated band L1a matched up w/ a bisulfite treated sequence from band L1b. It is no longer possible to tell if this sequence came from a "high CpG" sequence or low CpG sequence, because they don't match w/ expected and there are no good BLAST hits for this squence - but when the 302bp sequences are compared to each other, only 1 C is not converted. Hard to tell if this is a CpG site, since do not know directionality of sequence.
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For primer pair L2 (EST: AM860932), a portion of the sequence from the bisulfite tx L2a band aligned w/ the expected amplicon. The non-tx sample sequences apparently amplified something non-specific. For this region 95bp there were 2 CpG sites, and 1 appears to be methylated. This top BLAST hit for this contig according to the Signae db is for a human bromodomain adjacent to a zinc finger protein.
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A few of the other band sequences had good hits in the the Signae contig database to CX069161. I checked the sequence in NCBI BLAST for vector contamination and there was a strong match in the regions that overlapped w/ my sequences. Maybe just incomplete trimming by geneious for for sequences.
Conc./Next steps:
Only 2 of the primer pairs (H5, L2) matches with the expected amplicon.
Going forward, will design primers using genomic sequences instead of ESTs. Will design 1 set of primers for the bisulfite treated sample using MethPrimer, will design regular primers outside of the expected amplicon region for the non-treated sample. Will run PCRs with these new primer sets. I still expect there will be non-specific binding with the MethPrimers since there is no way to check specificity, but hopefully will have more luck this time. Using genomic sequences will help since won't have an issue w/ running into introns.


12/23/09
Summary: purified plasmid preps and submitted for sequencing
Procedure:
Decanted ~1.5mL broth from each tube into microcentrifuge tube and spin max speed 1min. Remove supe. Decant an additional ~1.5 mL broth into tube, spin max 1min. Decant supe. Follow instructions for Qiagen's Qiaprep Spin Miniprep kit (Isolation of plasmid DNA from Agrobacterium using the QIAprep Spin Miniprep Kit (spin procedure). NOTE: did not perform step 10 which is a wash w/ Buffer PB.
After purification submitted samples in duplicate using both forward and reverse M13 primers.

12/22/09
Summary: cloning of bisulfite treated samples cont. from 12/21/09. Picked colonies, re-streaked, anayzed transformants by PCR (M13 primers), inoculated liquid broth with chosen colonies.
Procedure:

NOTE: leaving toothpick in well was very helpful for keeping track of where I was, the toothpick sucked up some of the mmix though - not all wells visually had same vol.
Results
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for the BSP samples, it is curious to note that for the L5 primers the band sizes are not the same for bisulfite tx. samples and the non-bisulfite tx samples (~250bp and ~550bp respectively). Selected at least 1 colony per primer pair for a treated and untreated sample. Also selected a few extra ones where band sizes were different between replicates. Final selection: L1a, L1b, L1d, L5d, H5b, H10a, H10b for bisulfite treated and L1a, L2a, L5a, H5a, H5c, H10a for non-bisulfite treated.
for Sepia samples, selected the following colonies per request by SBR: retinab (Rb), find (Fd), ventral mantle center top (vmcTb & vmcTd), vmcBc, vmcBd
Next step: the restreaked plates had been incubating at 37C since ~9:30am. At ~ 3pm I added 5mL liquid LB broth + 50ug/mL Kan to individual tubes then used a toothpick to innoculate broth w/ the selected re-streaked colonies. tubes were placed in 37C shaking at 250rpm to incubate over night
Next steps: tomorrow will purify plasmids for sequencing.


12/21/09
Summary: initiate cloning of PCR products from bisulfite treated and non-bisulfite treated C.gigas gDNA. Run PCR samples from Sepia PCR (see results in 12/18/09 entry)
Procedure:
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12/20/09
Summary:run PCR products from 12/18/09 on gel

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Results: still multiple bands even at a higher annealing temp. cut out bands from L2 and H10, but the same bands were present on the gel from the 18th and were brighter bands, so probably will not try to clone anything from this gel.

12/18/09
Summary:
1. run PCR products from 12/17/09 on gel.
2. Repeat PCR using BB06 sample (Jun09) for 10 of the primer sets that showed 'some promise', and increase annealing temp to 60C, increase rxn vol to 50uL, use Opticon for running PCR.
3. Run PCR using Sepia samples/primers
1. Gel Procedure:
1. Gel Results:
gels are labeled as primer pair (primers 1 - 10 of either L=low CpG class or H - high CpG class_expected band size). order of samples is bisulfite treated, non-bisulfite treated and H20
121809gel_H_primers (2 documents)
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121809gel_L_primers (2 documents)
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2. BSP PCR procedure:
3. Sepia PCR procedure:
3. Sepia Gel Results
(see layout under procedure)
20091221-01.jpg (JPEG Image, 1200x531 pixels)
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Conc./Next Steps: Not really what I expected. Multiple bands and banding pattern was not the same between bisulfite tx. and control for most of the samples. Not sure if this has anything to do w/ quality of bisulfite tx. DNA? or the strange A260/A280 ratio for the bisulfite tx. samples (~3)? Will repeat PCR w/ 5 primer pairs from each of the 2 classes (high CpG and low CpG). Primer pairs were chosen if they had bands of the same size in the bisulfite tx and non-bisulfite tx samples.



12/17/09
Summary: reconstituted primer plate for BSP primers and made working stocks. PCR w/ each of the 20 primer sets using BB07 (Jun09) gDNA and BB07 bisulfite treated (see entry 12/10/09) gDNA.
Procedure:
Next Steps: run PCR rxns on agarose gel.

12/11/09
Summary: designed primers to assess methylation status of 20 C.gigas genes (10 low-CpGo/e contigs, 10 high-CpGo/e contigs)
Notes: Started out by only using contigs w/ sequence lengths >800bp. High CpG ratios were chosen w/ a cut-off of 0.8. Low Cpg ratios started w/ cut-off of 0.2, then ended up choosing contigs w/ ~ 0.4 CpGo/e since couldn't design suitable primers to find CpG's if there were very few present. Used MethPrimer to design Bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) primers. This means there are no CpG's in your primers (so amplifies bisulfite converted and non-bisulfite converted gDNA equally), and amplicon contains a relatively high number of CpG sites to investigate methylation status). The paper that discusses MethPrimer for BSP (Li & Dahiya, 2002) mentions that it is hard to amplify long stretches of bisulfite treated DNA so targets amplicons of <300bp and that primers for BSP are typically a bit longer.
Excel table w/ chosen contigs and primer sequences can be found here.

12/10/09
Summary: Bisulfite conversion of gDNA from 8 C.gigas samples collected in Jun09
Procedure:
samples were selected to be ~same conc. with A260/A280 ~ 1.9
followed mfr protocol for Qiagen EpiTect Bisulfite kit:
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Results:
Conclusions:
Yields are normal (per Qiagen tech support). The A260/A280 ratio is very high for all samples (~3), did some searching and not sure what causes this. Called tech support and they are not sure either. Suggested it may an artifact of high absorbance values and to dilute samples and quant again. Not sure if that would work since original sample A260/A280 ratios had higher overall absorbance but ratio was ~2. Also suggested just going ahead to try out samples in PCR reactions. They would not recommend purification using one of their gDNA clean-up kits since would worry that ss DNA wouldn't stick to columns very well. Could do an ethanl precipiation.

Did not combine second eluate (conc. values very small), but may before running PCR to increase vol. (20 primer sets, so need > 20uL), do not think that diluting 1:2 would affect PCR.

Next step, order Bifulfite Sequencing Primers to amplify regions w/ CpG to asses methylation status by sequencing of cloned products.


12/03/09
Summary: qPCR w/ 19 primers designed to detect methylation
Procedure:
Results:
scoring of wells
observations:
-many of these primer pairs showed no amplification (intron?)
-for those that did show amplification: primer pairs E9 and E11 it does not appear that there is any methylation at these sites as the Ct's are the same for the HpaII and MspI digested samples.
Conclusions/Next Steps:
None of the primers tested here appear to be methylated at the restriction site, indicating that it is unlikely these regions are methylated at the restriction site. Now that all primer sets have been tested will go forward w/ PCR of gDNA using the primers for regions that appear to be methylated following this analysis, controls using primers from putatively unmethylated regions will be included.
NOTE: based on data from CpG o/e ratios, it appears that immune related genes primarily fall into the "unmethylated region" (high CpG o/e), therefore it seems reasonable that only 2 genes were found to be methylated from this batch of genes since they are immune related (upreg in response to bacteria exposure). Also of impt note, out of the 64 primer pairs tested only 20 showed amplification in the undigested gDNA (introns?).

12/02/09
Summary: qPCR w/ 24 primers designed to detect methylation
Procedure:
Results:
scoring of wells
observations:
-negative control was positive in well D8 (primer set C8)
-many of these primer pairs showed no amplification (intron?)
-for those that did show amplification: primer pairs C7, D1, D3, D6, D7 and D12 it does not appear that there is any methylation at these sites as the Ct's are the same for the HpaII and MspI digested samples.

Conclusions/Next Steps: None of the primers tested appear to be methylated at the restriction site. One set of primers (C12), should be repeated, because the undigested sample did not amplify (likely a loading error), however, because the Ct was the same for the HpaII and MspI digested samples, it is unlikely that this region is methylated.


11/25/09
Summary: results of assembly of oyster NGS data to DNMT sequences in other species
Table:
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Next steps: some of these may not be real. Double check if alignments are good.

11/23/09
Summary: 1. quant RNA isolated 10/28/09 (Jun LC01 - 07, WB01-07), 2. run qPCR w/ 24 primers designed to detect methylation
RNA Quant Results:
112309 nanodata.bmp
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RNA Quant Conc./Next Steps: With the exception of low A260/A230 ratios for WB05 and LC03 results look good. Next step is to DNAse these guys and continue w/ isolations of the additional 13 samples from each site.

qPCR to detect methylated cytosines in oyster gDNA
Procedure:
Results:
Conclusions/Next steps:
MORE CONCLUSIONS _ FURTHER ANALYSIS
A3 primers 112309.bmp
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Next steps:



11/06/09
Summary: run gels of sample digested 11/05/09
Results:
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11/05/09
Summary: prepare fresh gDNA samples from juvenile and adult C.gigas. Perform restriction digests using HpaII and MspI to evaluate for presence of methylated DNA.
Purpose: In response to yesterday's digests, it looks like starting gDNA for C.gigas samples (see undigested lanes) was already pretty degraded, which may make it difficult to interpret differences between HpaII and MspI digests. So, preparing fresh samples from different life stages and tissues of C.gigas
Procedure:
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Next steps:

11/04/09
Summary: repeat digests of sea urchin and MG_gigas sample from 11/02/09. Additional samples were also run (DNA from Friedman lab): various oyster species, clam, mussel and crab
Purpose: Repeat C.gigas sample from 11/02 w/ sea urchin control (partially methylated) and crab control (insect type is minimally methylated). Include additional bivalve samples for comparison.
Sample information:
Procedure:
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Conclusions/Next steps:
- sr320 sr320 Nov 4, 2009 might be worth getting bivalve DNA that is less degraded (ie more similar to sea urchin)


11/02/09
Summary: restriction digest w/ HpaII and MspI: C.gigas, herring, sea urchin, C.viriginica
Purpose:
Based on results from Imprint kit (10/29/09), it appears that either oyster samples are inhibiting the assay or there is a undetectable amound of methylation in the samples using this assay. In order to evaluate methylation status of oyster samples, will run a restriction digest using Hpa II (cuts CCGG sites, but will not cut if methylated) and MspI (an isoschizmer of HpaII, but is able to cut methylated DNA). Based on a paper by Bird & Taggert 1980, there are 3 'types' of methylation patterns: insect-type (no methylation), echinoderm type (having methylated and non-methylated fractions), and vertebrate-type (heavily methylated). Will isolate gDNA from each "type" and compare to oyster samples.
Procedure:
Isolated gDNA from mammal (cheek swab), sea urchin (tube feet), herring (skin/muscle)
110209 nano data.bmp
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Restriction digests

Microsoft Excel
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Results:
Presentation1
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Conclusions/Next Steps:
I think the 'control' results are as expected. For the herring sample, I expected the MspI smear to be a bit lower than the sea urchin sample because it should be the more methylated 'vertebrate type', but overall the HpaII lane had a larger more compact smar, while the MspI was a longer, lower smear. The oyster results are quite odd. For C.gigas, there is no difference in banding patterns for the 2 digest - which may suggest little to no methylation, but both lanes appear to have the "MspI" type of pattern w/ a lower larger smear. Does this indicate that oysters have a higher number of CCGG sites than other species tested - but that none are methylated? I think this should be repeated with additional C.gigas samples for more information. For the C.vignica sample - it appears that no DNA was loaded. Not sure what happened here. Will also need to repeat.
Next steps would be to repeat these samples and add additional oyster samples and mussel samples (this was tested in Bird & Taggert 1980, for an additional control). Colleen has a bunch of gDNA from oysters she can give me.



10/29/09
Summary: Imprint kit test run. 1) added pts. to lower end of curve, 2) ran a range of sample DNA conc., 3) ran herring gDNA for info.
Procedure:
Total ng added to well in 30µL
stock conc. ng/uL
vol of stock
vol of diluent
final conc. ng/µL
25
50
1.2
73.8
0.8
12.5
0.8
40
40
0.4
6.3
0.4
40
40
0.2
3.1
0.2
40
40
0.1
1.6
0.1
40
40
0.05
Results:
Excel spreadsheet

10/28/09
Summary: Isolated RNA from gill samples already in TriReagent for LC01-LC07 and WB01- WB07 from Jun2009
Procedure:
Next steps:
Not enough time to quant. Samples at -80 will quant on Friday.

10/17/09 - 10/21/09
Field sampling data sheets for Oct 2009
BB-10/17/09
WB-10/18/09
LC-10/19/09
NB-10/19/09
SB-10/20/09
DH-10/21/09

10/15/09
Summary: Isolated RNA from gill samples already in TriReagent for SB01-SB07 and DH01- DH07 from Jun2009
Procedure:
Results:
101509 nano data.bmp
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101509 nano plot.bmp
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Conc/Next Steps:
These samples need to be DNAsed then checked for genomic carry-over before cDNA is made.

10/12/09
Summary: for labeling consistency, aliquoted cDNA samples from 10/7 and 10/8 into new tubes for Bioanalyzer/SOLiD cDNA library
Procedure:
Sample ID on tube (actual sample information):


10/09/09
Summary: Trial run w/ Sigma Aldrich Imprint Methylated DNA QUantification Kit. Standard curve, blank and 2 oyster samples
Procedure:
Total ng added to well in 30µL
stock conc. ng/uL
vol of stock
vol of diluent
final conc. ng/µL
100
50
2
28
3.33
50
50
2.5
72.5
1.67
25
1.67
37.5
37.5
0.83
12.5
0.83
37.5
37.5
0.42
6.3
0.42
37.6
37.5
0.21
Results:
Excel worksheet using an exponential curve fit - here (R^2: 0.94)
Excel worksheet using a linear curve fit (200ng std. dropped) - here (R^2: 0.87)
Example curve from mfr - here (R^2: 0.97)
NOTES: The exponential curve appeared to fit the data a little better than the linear model (judging by R^2) . I should have stopped the reaction sooner to get the high standard in the lindear range - it appears to be a little saturated at 0.7OD. Nevertheless, the curve showed a good dose response. The curve was a little "squished" compared to the example in the manual. May need to increase # of washes or intensity of washes. The blank was very low (Unknown1), which was good. The samples, were outside of the range of the standard curve (too low, lowest std. 0.27OD, BB01 0.24OD, DH07 0.18 OD).
Conclusions/Next Steps:
Will need to run a different standard curve going to lower concentrations. Mfr protocol says LOD for this assay is 5ng fully methylated DNA, will see what curve looks like that low. Also need to run a few duplicates to see what precision is. All in all, I think this kit shows more promise than the Epigentek kit.

10/08/09
Summary: Finish ligation from 10/07/09, then complete SOLiD library protocol with speed vac'd BB and DH fragmented RNA samples. Ran 2 batches of PCR after size selection 1) inside pieces of gel/15 cycles, 2) outside pieces of gel/18cycles (to increase yield)
Procedure:
Results:
1st PCR: 6.7ng/uL for BB and DH
2nd PCR (3 additional cycles): 75.4 and 64.1 ng/µL for BB and DH respectively (see Nanodrop data below)
100809b nano data.bmp
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100809b nano plots.bmp
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Conc./Next Steps:
Appears that using more conc. sample prior to ligation helped increase yield (see 1st PCR). Running 3 additional cycles (18 total), helped quite a bit more for increasing yield! and still was within the range of the protocol.
Next steps, wait for bioanalyzer results before proceding.

10/07/09
Summary:
1. repeat size selection and purification of BB and DH cDNA for SOLiD library (since did not get any yield from first run; see 10/02 and 10/05 entries). Similar results were obtained today as previous
2. combine and concentrate eluates from 3 PCR rxns for BB and DH (10/07, 10/05 and 10/02). send out aliquot for bioanalyzer
3. concentrate (by speed vac) remaining fragmented ribo-, poly-A RNA and perform ligation rxn.

1. Procedure:
Results:
100709 nano data.bmp
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100709 nano plots.bmp
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Conclusions:
results similar to 10/02/09. No peak observed at 260nm. Gel pieces were within the range as stated in the protocol.
other observations:
Next steps: I've called tech support - they are getting back to me today. They state that the yield at the end should be >200 ng. If by some chance my quant results were accurate - I would have 100, and 160ng recovery for BB and DH respectively.

2. Procedure:
Results:
100709b nano data.bmp
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100709b nano plots.bmp
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3. Procedure


10/05/09
Summary: tried to PCR and purify the remaining gel bands from 10/02/09 to get cDNA for SOLiD library. Made pieces smaller first since I think inhibition was the reason no cDNA on 10/02. No cDNA from outer bands.
Procedure:
Results:
100509 nano data.bmp
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100509 nano plots.bmp
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Conclusions:
No detectable cDNA after PCR and purification. Less sure this time around if it was inhibition due to the amount of gel - or because the outside pieces did not have a lot of material to start with. Next step is to run the remaining 5uL on a new gel and size select again focusing on minimizing the amount of gel going into the reaction.

10/02/09
Summary: completed SOLiD library contruction protocol - sad day though, no cDNA at the end. Investigation points to cause: gel pieces were too big.
Procedure:
Results:
100209 nano data.bmp
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100209 nano plots.bmp
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NOTES:
Conclusions and next steps:

9/24/09
Summary: completed ligation and RT of BB and DH samples for SOLiD library construction. Nanochip data back.
Procedure:

Nanochip Data
screenshot real totalRNA.bmp
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screenshot totalRNA.bmp
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9/23/09
Summary: proceeded w/ "Amplified library construction" procedure using SOLiD kit and DH and BB samples
Procedure:

9/22/09
Summary: picochip data!
screenshop picochip.bmp
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egramsBB andDH.bmp
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Conclusions:
Next steps:

9/21/09
Summary: completed mRNA isolation from ribosomal depleted RNA samples. RNAsed BB and DH samples for SOLiD cDNA library.
Procedure (Ambion protocol):
Procedure (SOLiD protocol):
092109nano.bmp
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9/18/09
Summary: Prepped samples for Bioanalyzer (total RNA and ribosomal depleted RNA). Isolated mRNA from ribosomal depleted RNA for BB and DH (2nd half of batch, Sam prepped 1st half also 9/18/09)
Procedure (Bioanalyzer sample prep):
Procedure (mRNA isolation):
Next steps: Finish precipitation of samples. bring up in 8uL to use entire vol in fragmentation of RNA for library prep

9/16/09
Summary: RiboMinus-ed the following RNA samples: RBC control, RBC poly I:C, GC (CAB), GE (CAB)
Procedure:
Results:
Nanodrop results "pre"-RiboMinus (labeled pre) and "post"-RiboMinus (labeled post):
(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (70%)
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Nanodrop spectrum for post-RiboMinus samples:
(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (70%)
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Nanodrop spectrum for pre- and post- RiboMinus samples:
(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (70%)
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Conclusions:
Very strange recovery for GC pooled. Tough to say what the issue is. Will run these samples on Bioanalyzer on Friday, so should have more information about quality then.

9/15/09
Summary: isolated 'ribosomal RNA (rRNA) - free' RNA from pools of gigas samples from Big Beef Creek and Drayton Harbor (April2009 collection)
Procedure:
RIBOMINUS 091509PLOTALL.bmp
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(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (70%)
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Results:
RiboMinus treated RNA concentrations:
Conclusions/Next Steps:
Recovery of RNA was about 30%. This is quite high since expected ~90% of RNA to be ribosomal. Maybe too much RNA to start with? 10ug is maximum for 1 reaction.
These samples will be sent out for analysis on Bioanalyzer to check for presence of ribosomal DNA bands and RNA integrity.


9/04/09
Summary: performed Methylamp DNA Methylation Quant Kit - standard curve only. Still having problems w/ standard curve.
Procedure:
standard ID:
A
B
C
D
E
F
standard vol (µL)
4 (neat)
20 (stdA)
20 (std B)
16 (std C)
20 (std D)
16 (std F)
diluent (GU2) vol (µL)
36
20
20
24
20
24
final conc. (ng/µL)
10
5
2.5
1
0.5
0.2
Results:
well ID
OD
std A
.294
std B
.386
std C
.472
std D
.267
std E
.945
std F
.406
blank
.288
blank
.317
Conclusions: I need more advice before going forward. This is not acceptable. High background or squished curves are one thing but no dose response is not good. I called Sigma-Aldrich this afternoon. They licensed Epigentek technology, but they say they have optimized their kit quite a bit. They should get me some specific differences by Tuesday.

09/02/09-09/03/09
Summary: run the remaining June hemolymph samples on the noradrenaline ELISA
Procedure:
Plate layout:
Microsoft Excel
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Results
Microsoft Excel
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Conclusions:
noradrenalineresults.xls
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Microsoft Excel
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8/28/09
Summary: run standard curve using Methylamp kit, to evaluate procedure - curve fit. Added additional point to std curve to evaluate final conc. to use. Evaluate reproducibility (compare to results from 8/17/09)
Procedure:.
standard ID:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
standard vol (µL)
4 (neat)
20 (stdA)
20 (std B)
28 (std C)
23 (std D)
20 (std E)
16 (std F)
diluent (GU2) vol (µL)
36
20
20
12
17
20
24
final conc. (ng/µL)
10
5
2.5
1.75
1
0.5
0.2
Results:
No dose response observed. The OD's for this run are on the summary page image below. this is what I sent to tech support to get more advice. I expected a reduced signal due to the excess stop solution added, but it does not explain why there is no dose response in the upper end of the curve and the lower end of the curve has the same OD. Ahhrrgh! Tech support is supposed to call on Monday
Methylamp tech support_MackenzieGavery.xls
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8/25/09
Summary: completed NAD ELISA from 8/24/09
Procedure:
Results:
Microsoft Excel
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Microsoft Excel
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Conclusions:


8/24/09
Summary: run Noradreanline extraction kit/ELISA. Run duplicate standard curve and focused on shaking and washing steps to increase range of curve (per tech support instruction) Included June samples from Samish Bay in this run.
NOTES: After the first NA run (7/22/09) sent data to mfr. for feedback (pos control recovery was poor). They thought curve fit looked good but that range of curve was depressed (highest std. should be 22% of zero standard, but mine was a 35%). Recommended 'making lab mates wonder what you are doing' by banging plate on paper towels in between wash steps. Increasing # of washes, because it won't hurt, and 'emphasizing' shaking steps - meaning speed it up. Also recommend running duplicate curves to see if pipetting/reproducibility is an issue.
Procedure:
Plate Layout:

1
2
3
A
StdA
StdA
SB05
B
StdB
StdB
SB06
C
StdC
StdC
SB08
D
StdD
StdD
SB21
E
StdE
StdE
SB22
F
StdF
StdF
SB23
G
Pos Cntrl1
SB01
SB24
H
Pos Cntrl2
SB03
SB25




8/18/09 - 8/21/09
August Field Data:
Big Beef Creek
Samish Bay
Drayton Harbor
Lynch Cove
North Bay
Willapa Bay


8/17/09
Summary: run standard curve using Methylamp kit (incorporating suggestions from mfr), to evaluate procedure - curve fit
Procedure:
standard ID:
A
B
C
D
E
F
standard vol (µL)
4 (neat)
20 (stdA)
20 (std B)
16 (std C)
20 (std D)
16 (std F)
diluent (GU2) vol (µL)
36
20
20
24
20
24
final conc. (ng/µL)
10
5
2.5
1
0.5
0.2
Results:
Microsoft Excel
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Microsoft Excel
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Conc. and Next Steps:
Not sure if I want to include 20 ng in curve going forward, I may drop that point and add it to the middle (3.5 ng) where the EC50 is. Other than that, should try to aim to have samples in the 0.2 to 0.7 OD range (after blank subtraction). I think this should be about right with what I ran before (100 ng), but could run a little less ~ 75 ng to avoid a few high ones. I think I'll stick w/ a 4P fit, it seems to fit the best. May want to run curve one more time though, since I have 1 more column and adjust/add a dilution.

8/06/09
Summary: isolated genomic DNA rom Jun09 gigas gill samples from SB and WB (samples 01 - 07 for each site), ran Methylmp kit for June09 samples form 6 sites
Procedure (gDNA isolation):
gDNA SBWB 080609.bmp
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Procedure (Methylamp Kit)

1
2
3
4
5
6
A
BB01
DH01
SB01
NB01
LC01
WB01
B
BB02
DH02
SB02
NB02
LC02
WB02
C
BB03
DH03
SB03
NB03
LC03
WB03
D
BB04
DH04
SB04
NB04
LC04
WB04
E
BB05
DH05
SB05
NB05
LC05
WB05
F
BB06
DH06
SB06
NB06
LC06
WB06
G
BB07
DH07
SB07
NB07
LC07
WB07
H
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
BLANK
S1 = 20ng/well, S2 = 10ng/well, S3 = 5ng/well, S4 = 2 ng/well, S5 = 0.8ng/well
Conc./Next Steps:
The curve was non linear - this probably means the samples were non-linear as well. This is very disappointing. It was the first time I had tried running a standard curve. This is GOOD to know though, the procedure will need to be tweaked to get the best results. Overall trends in samples though show some differences between sites.
The next step is to run std. curve only with improved protocol - see notes from tech support below on how this will be accomplished.

NOTES: Talked to tech support on 8/11/09. Here are recommendations for improvements...

8/05/09
Summary: isolated genomic DNA rom Jun09 gigas gill samples from LC and NB (samples 01 - 07 for each site)
Procedure:
part1.bmp
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part2.bmp
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Next Steps: finish isolation from last 2 sites then run the ELISA!
Calculations: for DNA methylation ELISA, samples will be diluted to 50ng/uL (load 2 µl for a total of 100ng/well). Calculations for today's samples can be found here
*before I ran samples I blanked w/ H20 then ran AE buffer alone. Result was 3.5ng/mL, so pretty low - but since I'm normalizing the samples for the ELISA I needed to have accuracy which is why I repeated yesterday's measurements.


08/04/09
Summary: isolated genomic DNA from June09 gigas gill samples from BB and DH (samples 01-07 for each site)
Procedure:
gDNA BBDH 0804009.bmp
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Next Steps: isolate gDNA from remaining sites for June samples (7 individuals each)

7/22/09 - 7/23/09
Summary: Noradrenaline ELISA Initiated. Samples from June for BB and DH
Procedure:
Microsoft Excel
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Microsoft Excel
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Mac NAD ELISA 072309 akima curve.xls
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7/15/09
Summary: qPCR to test new C.gigas primers
Procedure:
Results:
Microsoft Word
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X=amplification, -- = no amplification
Next Steps: Will want to try a temp gradient for SOD, HSP70 and GPX to see if getting non-specific peaks at 55C. Will need to investigate and reorder primers for SOD and MTIV. Am ready to go for HIF1a and MDR, low reproducibility in hemolymph sample for these genes (maybe due to low starting conc.?) - but will be using gill samples for this study, so will probably be ok.

6/22/09
June field data sheets
June 20 2009 to June 22 2009
June 23 2009
June field notes
ID's for research tags:
51(sub4) x 35(sub4) Rep 2: R015 (NB), R013 (SB), R026 (WB)

35 (sub4) x 51(sub4) Rep 2: R037(SB), R051 (WB), R061(NB)




6/18/09
Summary: qPCR to test new MV C.virginica primers; qPCR 18s primers
Procedure:
qPCR1:
qPCR2:


6/17/09
Summary: qPCRs for MV samples. primers HSP70, HMG
Procedure:

6/16/09
Summary: qPCRs for MV samples. primers BGBP and Cys B
Procedure:
Results:



6/15/09
Summary: ordered primers to look for genomic in Aug 06 (MTIV promoter region, DQ354067, link to ref., prepped genomic DNA from 3398 B9 MV oyster gill samples for pos. control.
(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (70%)
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6/11/09
Summary: isolated RNA from r15 MV samples May 07(ID: 3326), DNAse treated and quantified RNA
Notes for samples: these samples did not have a separate "supe" tube. ~500uL in hemocyte sample, visually some were clear and some were light brown. All samples were spun at 800rpm for 10 min then supe was removed ~100uL was left in tube after decanting.
Procedure:
(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (69%)
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6/10/09
Summary: isolated RNA from remaining 14 MV samples Oct 2005 (ID: 2100), DNAse treated and quantified RNA
Notes for samples: these samples did not have a separate "supe" tube. ~100 - 300uL in hemocyte sample, not all had visible pellets.
Procedure:
(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (70%)
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Results: RNA values are low, but not out of the range for the other samples processed. Again, the spectrum was variable @ 230nm among samples.

6/09/09
Summary: isolated RNA from MV samples Oct 2005 (ID: 2100), DNAse treated and quantified RNA, qPCR for genomic carryover (also included repeat of samples from 6/08/09). Samples are free from genomic carryover.
Sample ID for 14 samples:
A: A1, A2, A3, A5, A7, A8, A12, A14
B: B2, B3, B6, B7, B8, B9

Notes for samples: these samples did not have a separate "supe" tube. ~100uL in hemocyte sample, not all had visible pellets. Two samples had 400 -600uL, (B6 and B8) for those they were split into 2 or 3 tubes respectively for the RNA isolation then pooled at the end.

Procedure:
(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (70%)
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Results: RNA values are low, but not out of the range for the other samples processed. The spectrum for one of the samples has a peak at 230 (some kind of carryover?). I thought this may be due to inactivation reagent - but I "spot checked" some of the samples before DNAse procedure including B1 and the profile was similar then. I have also seen this in some of the other samples (see Mac's notebook page for Environmental Physiology class: 2/18/09).
Results: positives were positive, negatives were negative. None of the samples showed amplification; samples are free from genomic carry over
qPCR rna 060909.bmp
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Next Steps: isolate RNA from the 2nd half of Oct 2005 samples

06/08/09
Summary: DNAse'd RNA isolated 6/0/509. Checked for genomic carry-over by qPCR on RNA (18s primer)
Procedure:
(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (70%)
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Results: Positive control showed no amplification. I was a bit worried about the "postive control" sample I used. I will use the "A8" sample (diluted 1:4 to increase volume) tomorrow when I repeat the plate.
Next steps: repeat qPCR

06/05/09
Summary: RNA isolation for MV samples -2nd half of ID: 3219 (Nov 2006) samples
Sample ID for 12 samples:
A: A1, A2, A3, A4, A11, A12, A13, A14, A15
B: B1, B3, B4, B10, B11, B12, B13

Notes for samples: these samples already had a separate "supe" tube. ~100uL in hemocyte sample, not all had visible pellets.

Procedure:
Quant Results:
(BMP Image, 1152x864 pixels) - Scaled (70%)
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Next Steps: DNase treat the samples then check RNA for genomic carry-over (run RNA w/ 18s primers)

05/18/09
Summary: repeat of 05/15/09 run using Stratagene SYBR Mmix
Procedure: see plate layout and mmix prep
Results: melt curves looked good (single peak!) Can't guess as to why it looks different than the SensiMix/SYBR. y-axis on the graphs below represent copy number (not normalized to 18s).
Microsoft Excel
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Conc.: Although general trends were observed between the two sites, none of the results were statistically significant (astacin was the closest at p=0.1). However, may not be the case with a larger n (n=7 for this run).


05/15/09
Summary: real-time PCR for BB (7total) and DH (7 total) samples. primers: IL-17, PGE receptor, Cystatin B, TIMP, Astacin-like
Purpose: 1st real-time run w/ gigas samples from field. Sam isolated RNA, DNase treated and verified free of genomic (see Sam's notebook for prep)
Procedure: prepped mastermix (Syto plus SYBR) loaded plate - see details here

Results: Melt curve shows 2 peaks for many of the primer pairs (RNA was tested already for genomic carryover and are clean). Graphed results for the 2 groups anyway using Ct (acceptable as conc. of RNA going into cDNA rxns was normalized). The intra-site variability for Ct was highest for 18s.
Microsoft Excel
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Sensi_SYBR 051509 (1 page)
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Conc. and next steps: Using these 7 samples from each group, there does not appear to be significant differeneces in expression levels of these particular genes between these two sites. I would like to repeat this however because I don't have any experience with this SensiMix plus SYBR, so I would like to use the Stratagene mm to see if melt curve issues could be due to reagents.

April 2009: Field Data Report Sheets
Big Beef 04/25/09: page 1 page 2
Drayton Harbor 04/26/09: page 1 page 2
Lynch Cove 04/29/09: page 1 page 2
North Bay 04/29/09: page 1 page 2
Samish Bay 04/30/09: pages 1 and 2
Willapa Bay 05/01/09: pages 1 and 2
NOTE: mechanical stress = 5 min.


4/24/09
Summary: qPCR MV RNA isolated 4/21/09 to test for genomic carry-over - Cv_18s primers
Procedure:
Results: positives were positive, negatives were negative. None of the samples showed amplification; samples are free from genomic carry over
Next steps: prep cDNA


4/21/09
Summary: isolated RNA from MV samples Nov 2006 (ID: 3219), DNAse treated and quantified RNA

Sample ID for 12 samples:
A: A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10
B: B5, B6, B7, B8, B14, B15

Notes for samples: these samples already had a separate "supe" tube. ~100uL in hemocyte sample, not all had visible pellets.

Procedure:
Quant Results:
MG042109nanopost dnase.bmp
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Conc. and Next Steps:
Results look pretty decent (comparable to other hemocyte RNA isolations). I included a DNAse negative in the DNAse procedure just to see what it looked like on the nanodrop. I blanked on water and the DNAse blank had a bit of absorbance at A260 (came out at ~3ng/uL), this is most likely background absorbance and not contamination (260/280 is low). Just wanted to check :) Next step is to check for presence of genomic carry-over by running DNAse treated RNA in qPCR using Cv_18s primers.


4/01/09
Summary: summary of analysis for MV oysters Aug06 sampling
MV oyster Aug06summary.pptx
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Conclusion: Did not have statistical significance at p=0.05 for any of the 5 genes analyzed, although HSP70 was close (p=0.06). There was a LOT of variability among individuals and I would like to follow up with some power analysis to see what kind of sample size would be required for sufficient power.
Next steps: I do have an additional set of primers I have not run yet (for toll-like receptor)that I could try.
Start processing samples for other time points when sample arrive.
MMMmmm, I also wonder if I should do a dilution curve with these primers to see what kind of linear range I have. Maybe with some pooled Cv DNA??
Bigger Picture: Now thinking about gigas and PS, would like to get samples as soon as possible to start getting an idea of variability within and between sites. Scary to think about # samples that may be required.


3/31/09
Summary: real-time of MV samples (originally tested 3/24/09 (see below)) using 18s primers to confirm results from 08/08/07
PCR plate layout
Results:
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Conclusions: Wow, amplification EARLY for most samples - will not use this data for quantitiation as some samples are likely outside the dynamic range. However, the results for sample B5 and B11 are consistent with the original data from 08/08/07 (i.e. come up 10 to 15 Ct later than other samples). To note, the high Ct for sample A3 is likely due to a pipettting error. Analysis will go forward by normalizing samples to 18s data collected 08/08/07.

3/27/09
Summary: real-time data of remaining MV samples (8/06, ID: 3166)
-Sam ran cDNA of an additional 14 C.virginica samples collected 8/22/06 using the following primers: BgBL, BGPB, CysB, HMG, HSP70
(sample IDs listed below in this entry)
PCR plate layout
-Data were normalized to 18s gene (run performed: 08/08/07)
-Results were analyzed using PCR miner, and will also be analyzed using a standard curve equation.
PCR miner results:
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-Will have to analyze w/ standard curve equation tomorrow to compare to the other half of the august 06 samples processed early march.
Question: B05 and B11 have really high gene expression results.
Next step: will repeat 18s to verify data (B05 and B11 had Ct values of 30 and 34 respectively - pretty high for 18s, the RNA for these samples were also among the highest for the group so that's a bit odd).


Sample ID:
List of 3166 samples in order of plate loading (from notebook #8)
A1
B05
A2
B06
A3
B07
A4
B08
A5
B09
A11
B10
A12
B11
A13
B14

3/05/09
Summary: re-analysis of Methylamp kit results
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3/04/09
Summary:
Procedure:
030409genomic.bmp
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Analysis:
I fudged the analysis a bit because I don't know the %GC content for gigas...so the calculation is:

OD(sample - blank)/X
OD (pos cntrl-blank) x 10

X= %GC content of species
10 = some dilution factor I think, but I need to call Epigentek (doesn't really matter since I made up 40% GC content too (human is 41%))
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Conclusions:
So the final #'s may not be meaningful yet (until I estimate the true GC content), but comparisons can be made.

3/03/09
Summary: isolated genomic DNA from oysters in "epigenetic experiment" (see 2/24/09). Plus 1 wild Pacific oyster mantle sample and 1 wild Olympia oyster mantle sample (18 samples total).
Procedure:

The gill samples all looked ok. The mantle samples, not so much - really low A260/230 ratios. I'm worried about running them in a new assay system, so I put the gill samples at -20 and initiated an ethanol precipitation for all of the mantle samples: 90uL eluate, 9uL 3M NaOac - mix - 198uL ice cold EtOH-mix-and store at -20C.

2/24/09
Sampled oysters from "epigenetic experiment" ~ 11am. Four control and 4 treated oysters - samples of gills and mantle from each. Samples were stored at -20C.
Image from Sam's notebook regarding treatment:
genefish » Sam's Notebook
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2/18/09
RACE sequences in for prostaglandin E receptor
summary: not a lot of sequence. only about 160 bp more than we knew before.
Nucleotide alignment 187 (Alignment)
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2/09/09
C.virginica project
summary: DNAse of 4 RNA samples ("other" samples), quantification of RNA, Reverse Transcription
-sample ID: (from box labeled Oyster Hemocytes RNA (6.12.06) in -80C freezer)
1) 7/11/06 oyster virginica RNA pool
2) 6.20.06 oyster hemocyte RNA curve
3) Tisbury North #1 hemocyte RNA (TRi)
4) Edgardown North #4 hemocyte RNA (TRi)

-DNAse treated 4 C.virginica RNA samples to use for testing primer sets. Used Ambion, Turbo DNA free kit.
-Each rxn contained: 5uL RNA, 1uL 10x DNAse buffer, 1uL DNAse, 3uL H20. After 20 min incubation at 37C added 2uL DNase inactivation reagent. Continued w/ protocol then quantified RNA on Nanodrop.
- macgavery macgaveryadd results
-reverse transcribed RNA samples, using 5 uL RNA for each sample. Followed procedure as performed on 2/03/09.
-stored cDNA at -20C in Mac's -20 box 2.

Perform RACE PCR for C. gigas prostaglandin E receptor cont. from 2/07/09
-Ran the 2nd half of the PCR rxns on a small gel and cut out bands (bands in the same order as 2/07/09). Results were not different, but easier to cut on the small gel since the bands were a bit more intense.
-Extracted DNA from agarose using millipore ultra-free-DA and stored at -20C.
-Will send out for sequencing on Friday.
gel 0209091.jpg (JPEG Image, 1298x3183 pixels) - Scaled (19%)
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2/06/09
Perform RACE PCR for C. gigas prostaglandin E receptor
designed 5' and 3' RACE primers from C. gigas EST EW777722. Below is overlay of C.gigas EST and D.rerio PGE receptor. Guess that 5' band is about 600 bp and 3' bnad about 1300 bp.
Nucleotide alignment 150 (Alignment)
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Performed RACE ready first strand cDNA synthesis (5' and 3') and RACE PCR per manufacturer's instructions
procedure page 1
procedure page 2
in summary: two things went not according to protocol. 1. did not use reverse trasncriptase from kit (didn't see it), so used Promega MMLV 2. accidentally added 3' gene specific primer to UPM negative control tube (oops- no longer a negative control). Held samples at 4C in thermal cycle over night.
2/07/09
ran products on gel
sample prep: 25uL sample, 5uL 5x loading dye (25uL of remaining rxn placed in Mac's -20 box)
gel prep: 150mL 1xTAE, 2g agarose, 12uL EtBr
gel: run at 100V ~ 50 min
image:
(note: this is a scan of a print out. bummer image)
Lane ID:
1. 100 bp ladder
7. 3' Sam's cDNA
2. 5' Sams cDNA (june 2008)
8. 3' cDNA (MG)
3. 5' cDNA (MG 2/6/09)
9. pos control (both primers)
4. 5' pos control (both primers)
10. neg control (UPM only)
5. 5' neg control (UPM only)
11. neg control (3' primer only)
6. 5' neg control (5' primer only)
12. Hyperladder

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cut bands from lane 2. ~1500bp when compared to Hyperladder, lane 4. ~ 400 bp when compared to hyperladder, lane 8. ~1600 bp when compared to Hyperladder, lane 10. ~1600 bp when compared to Hyperladder (band is SO faint). Also saw very faint band concordant with the 1600 bp band in the 3' negative control for 3' primer only (lane 11). that was surprising.
Summary:
1) bands not observed consistently in 1 prep of cDNA. For the 5' samples only Sam's cDNA showed a band, for the 3' cDNA only Mac's cDNA showed a band.
2) bands not as expected. especially for the primer controls the size of the product is 3x bigger than expected - band is really faint. 5' band is a lot bigger than expected (lane 2), 3' band is a also a bit bigger than expected (lane 8).
3) I still have half the product left. Would like to run it again (maybe on smaller well size? for a denser band width), to try to get better images.
Thoughts....





02/04/09
Test for Genomic Carryover in RNA from plated hemocytes – cont. from 2.3.09
-diluted RNA 1:5 (should have diluted 1:4, but realized that too late) to represent the total dilution performed during reverse trancription
-ran diluted RNA in real-time PCR w/ PGS_g primers. If genomic carryover then expect to see amplifcation in RNA samples.

Results: (sample ID and Ct)
1. 37.01
2 . 36.33
5. 36.33
6. 39.6
7. N/A
9. N/A
genomic. 31.2
water. N/A
water. N/A

Melting Curves:
20090205-f1mritu1mxyd7daxjdk821xwsj.jpg (JPEG Image, 602x313 pixels)
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Conclusion: There is carryover DNA present in 4 of the 6 samples. This is surprising since the kit used had a DNAse step. If I were to compare the performance of this kit to TRIreagent I would say that this kit is not any better for isolating RNA from small amounts of tissues


2/03/09
Plating C.gigas hemocytes - cont. from 01/29/09
RNA quantification
Thawed RNA samples from 1/30/09 (Tubes 1 - 9) and quantitated RNA on the nano-drop. In summary, not a lot of RNA. THe 260/280 was high, the the 260/230 was horrible!. The isolation procedure includes a de-salting step and a few washes, I was kinda disappointed in the 260/230. I don't know what to say about sample 8. Huge peak at 230 nm.
020309_nanotalbe.jpg

020309_nanograph.jpg
Reverse Transcription
picked duplicate wells from each treatment that had the most decent nanodrop data.
prepped cDNA for duplicate tubes from each treatment: 1,2. controls 5,6. + PGN-SA 3µg/mL, 7,9. +PGN-SA 10µg/mL
  1. Added 5uL total RNA to 0.5 mL tube
  2. Heat at 75C for 5 min in thermocycler
  3. Put directly on ice for 5 min or longer
  4. Make Master Mix:
PER RXN (6 total)
4 ul 5x Buffer (MMV RT Buffer)
8 ul dNTPs (10 mM total)
1 ul MMV RTranscriptase
1 ul Oligo dT Primer
1 ul RNase free water
Total = 15 ul
  1. Add MM to tube with diluted mRNA in it (total volume now 20 ul)
  2. Incubate at RT for 10 min
  3. Incubate at 37C for 1 hr in thermocycler
  4. Heat inactivate @ 95C for 3 min
  5. stored samples in Mac's PCR reagents box in small -20C
Real-Time PCR
ran 6 samples in real-time PCR run using PGS_g primers and 18s primers (SYBR Green M.mix)



1/30/09
Plating C.gigas hemocytes - cont. from 01/29/09
Treatments
-cells visible on plate and similar in density to what has been previously observed. Lots of bacteria still alive in dish
-rinsed each well with 1 mL sterile seawater, then added 1mL fresh sterile seawater to well
-viewed wells again and observed very little if any Brownian motion (bacteria).
-prepared PGN-SA solutions: at 3 ug/mL and 10 ug/mL from 1 mg/mL stock.
-aspirated sterile seawater from 9 wells and added 1 mL sterile seawater - control (3 wells), 1 mL PGN-SA at 3ug/mL (3 wells), 1mL PGN-SA at 10ug/mL (3 wells). The threee remaining wells were not used.
-incubated plate at 12C for 3 hours.
Isolate RNA
Prepared solutions Nucleospin RNA kit (Machery-Nagel) per manufacturer's instructions page 14, '5.1 Total RNA purification from culured cells'.
A few notes on this procedure: this was a sample kit. The cool thing about it is that it is supposed to be specific for isolating RNA from small amounts of cells and the first buffer lyses the cells. One observation: after aspirating the media you add the buffer to the well then mix is around and collect it into the tube - well it looks like a little layer (poly-D-lysine?) gets sucked into the pipette along with the liquid. I assume this happened before with the Tri-Reagent, but you probably just can't see it as well because it's red. Not sure what effect this could have on the RNA isolation process.
This procedure took me about 1.5 hours to do 9 samples. Because these are microcolumns it is very important to keep track of labels on tubes because there is a lot of tube swapping. There is the option of doing a filtration of the lysate in this procedure, I did perform this step for my samples, but I think I could have skipped it (protocol states it can be skipped if < 1e5 cells).

Tube ID:
1, 2, 3. control wells (sterile seawater)
4, 5, 6. +PGN-SA 3 µg/mL
7, 8, 9. +PGN-SA 10µg/mL


1/29/09
Plating C.gigas hemocytes
Prepare Plate
-bled 5 oysters ~10 mL hemolymph extracted
-prepared stock of sterile seawater and antibiotics (added 40µL Pen Strep stock (10,000U/mL Pen, 10 mg/mL strep to 4 mL sterile seawater)
-added 4 mL sterile seawater +antibiotic solution to the 10 mL of hemolymph and plated 1mL/well in a poly-D-lysine coated plate.
-incubated plate at 12C, covered overnight

NOTES on bleeding: extracted hemolymph from 4 oysters the "normal" way (syringe into notch and draw at muscle). Then shucked an oyster to see where exactly the syringe was. When the syringe is directly in the muscle, no liquid can be withdrawn. So needle is probably close to the muscle, but not directly in it. Tried to extract cells from the heart, but it shrinks when punctured-not a lot of luck there. Colleen came over from the Friedman lab to show Sam how they bled the oysters. They shuck the oyster very gently then extract ~ 0.5 mL from the pericardial cavity (not puncturing the heart).
-counting: did a 1:2 dilution of hemolymph and Trypan blue to count cells. Performed with the pooled hemolymph as well as the heart sample I attempted to take. Both samples again had the ginormous blue particles that made counting cells impossible (see image below 01/09/09 for example of ginormous blue particles).



1/20/09
Western Blot anti-HSP70 antibody
Procedure p1
Procedure p2
Procedure p3
Coomassie image
Membrane just after transfer(to help with ladder visualization)
Lane ID
1. See Blue Ladder
2. Mussel - HS @37C
3. Barnacle- HS @ 37C
4. Oyster gill-HS @ 37C
5. Octopus - bucket
6. Octopus - skin
7. Octopus - underwater
8. not loaded (due to overflow from lane 7)
9. Abalone - heart
10. Fish gill
11. Trout w.muscle
12. Trout r.muscle (I think)
Image 10 min development
Image 60 min development
Conclusions:
After 10 minutes, the HS mussel, HS barnacle, Abalone heart, fish gill, and 2 trout muscle samples showed bands. After 60 minutes, the HS oyster sample also showed a faint band.

1/14/09
Troubleshooting hemocyte samples from real-time run 1/09/09
Part II repeat real-time PCR performed 1/12/09 was repeated with a more "sensitive" melt curve to see if differences between genomic and cDNA could be improved. Included a "spiked" genomic sample
Results: results similar to 1/12/09 run. The differences in the melt curves is not enough to be able to distingush presence of genomic DNA. Spiked sample was not easily distinguishable from the original cDNA sample. NOTE: Something weird was going on with Syto 13 dye. The melt curve showed 2 peaks and the gel was very smeared.


1/12/09
Troubleshooting hemocyte samples from real-time run 1/09/09
Part I:
trying a different master mix/dye: SYBR Green
compare amplification efficiencies and melt curves using SYBER Green (master mix, dye included) versus Immomix/Syto 13 dye which is what I've been using
here is an image of the amplification curves. the left batch of curves is using the SYBR Green m.mix, the right batch of curves are the exact same samples using the Immomix/Syto13 m.mix. The SYBR Green m.mix has a larger exponential range and higher overall flourescence.
syto_v_sybr.jpg
The next images shows the melt curve of these same samples. the top is the SYBR Green, the bottom the Immomix/Syto 13 m.mix. The SYBR green melt curves are consistent with the gel below in Part II (i.e. one peak in melt curve = one band in sample). What is not clear is why the bands of different sizes (~100bp different) have the same melt temp, or why the Immomix + Syto 13 m.mix shows 2 peaks.
melt_curves.jpg

Take home message - go forward with SYBR Green dye.

Part II:
trying to figure out if this cDNA is contaminated with genomic DNA
approach: use real-time PCR/melt curve analysis to look for multiple products using primers that cross an intron. Primers used "PGS_g", the picture below shows the primers (gray arrows) the lower sequence is the ORF, the upper sequence is from sequence analysis results from genomic DNA.
sequence_large_view.jpg
results: ok, no real answers from this run. melt curve analysis did not really provide any answers - both genomic and cDNA samples showed double peaks. I added loading dye (6uL each) to the 25uL rxns - Immomix/Syto 13 reactions (the SYBR green samples were NOT run on the gel) and ran them on a 1% agarose gel.

1. hyperladder 2. cDNA hemocytes control a
3. cDNA hemocytes +PGN 15ug/3h a 4. cDNA hemocytes + PGN 50ug/3h a
5. genomic DNA sample A 6. genomic DNA sample D
7. H20 8. 100bp ladder
really_red_gel.jpg
gel_two.jpg
next steps:
can't tell, could be faint genomic band in this gel. I think since there is sequence data for the intron, I could design 1 primer within the intron then use 1 PGS_g primer to see if I can get any amplification in the cDNA samples. If yes, then confirms presence of genomic DNA.


1/09/08
Hard Clam Hemacytomer images - what is that blue stuff?? (100x)
another.jpg



Plating gigas hemocytes (12 well plates vs. 60mm dish) cont. from 12/16/08.
-ran real-time PCR on samples using primers for PGE receptor (ID: PGLANDIN_E2), IL-17 (ID: IL-17 Iso D),18s (gigas 18s).
Samples run in duplicate on the plate
results:
NOTE: the 2 samples that go off scale are at ~25 fold/minimum. I believe these high values are an artifact of some kind so I didn't bother to scale them into the results graph.

conclusions:
-all 12 samples crossed the threshold w/in 1 Ct of each other. This seems rather fishy - maybe genomic DNA contamination?
-the 2 replicates that are ~25 fold/minimum had late amplification of the 18s primers, I think this is an artifact. Still seeing low efficiency with this primer set, will likely change to elongation factor for normalization gene to get better amplification efficiency.

next steps: determine if samples have genomic contamination. Compare melt curves for these samples with melt curves from genomic DNA. If contamination is present should see two peaks in samples, one of those peaks should match genomic DNA peak. Will use PGS_g primers that cross a 100bp intron.
-unique.jpgfile_name.jpg
1/07/08
Plating gigas hemocytes (12 well plates vs. 60mm dish) cont. from 12/16/08.
-prepared cDNA using Quantitect kit

12/16/08
Plating gigas hemocytes (12 well plates vs. 60mm dish) cont. from 12/16/08.
-washed all 12 wells 2x with 1mL sterile seawater.
-added PGN to wells in the following order 7:25 am
(note: same samples as 11/18 and 11/11 to compare results to what has previously been observed wit PGN-SA) :
3 wells: control (1mL sterile seawater),
6 wells: PGN-SA at 50ug/mL (1 mL) - 3 for 3 hour, 3 for 6 hour time points
3 wells: PGN-SA at 15ug/mL (1 mL)

no pics today, but cells looked normal. I compared the 5 mL dish with the wells of the 12 well plate and the looked similar. For both the dishes and the plates the cells in the middle of the well are more adherent while the cells are a lot more sparse on the edges of the well and it appear to me that there is more rounding of the cells in this region.

at 10:25, 3 hours after treatments, supernatant from 3 of the 50 ug/mL PGN-SA wells and the 3 15ug/mL PGN-SA wells. 1 mL of tri reagent was added and tubes were stored at -80C in gigas hemocyte box.

at 1:25, 6 hours after treatments, supernatant from 3 of the 50 ug/mL PGN-SA wells and the 3 control wells. 1 mL of tri reagent was added and tubes were stored at -80C in gigas hemocyte box.

Hemocyte "washing"
-extracted 7.2 mL hemolymph from 3 lg. Pacific oysters
-pulled off 0.2 mL in centrifuge tube for cell count
-added 3 mL sterile seawater +pen/strep to 7mL hemolymph
-added 5 mL/well to 60mm dish, and plated at 12C protected from light
-with the additional 5 mL: centrifuged at 800 rpm for 5 min. Supe was pulled off and pellet resuspended in 5 mL sterile seawater +pen/step (repeated for a total of 3 washed)
-final resuspension, vortexed genly and plated 5 mL at 12C protected from light.
-cell count: 1:2 dilution of 200uL hemolymph w/ Trypan blue. Cells were not countable. Similar to observation from 12/09/08. Weird.
-will visually observe cells at 1 hr and 24 hr after plating to see if cell # and amount of 'other' material is similar between washed and unwashed cells.
observations: lost most of cells, maybe one tenth of cells remaining (but so was the 'other' stuff!). Just like last time though when are the blue particle stuff was observed; the cells in the unwashed plate were clumpier than usual.



12/16/08
Plating gigas hemocytes (12 well plates vs. 60mm dish)
-plating cells in 12 well plates and 60mm dish-
-surface area of 60mm dish is 28.26 sq cm., surface area of well in 12 well plate is 3.8 sq. cm (7.43x smaller). Plate 5 mL in 60mm dish and 1 mL/well in 12 well plate
-extracted 14 mL hemolymph from 7 lg. Pacific oysters (already notched from 12/9/08). Was able to extract between 2 and 4 mL per oyster.
-pulled off 1 mL in centrifuge tube for cell count
-added 5.2 mL sterile seawater +pen/strep to 13mL hemolymph
-added 1 mL/well to all wells of a 12-well plate
-added 5 mL/well to 60mm dish
-placed plate at 12C protected from light.
-cell count: spun 1 mL hemolymph at 800 rcf for 5 min. Resuspended in 100uL water. Added 100 uL Trypan blue and looaded hemocytometer
counted 315 cells in 7 large squared (16 small squares/large square)
315 cells/7 squared*2df*1e4= 9e5cells/mL (divide by 10 to account for concentration of volume from 1 mL to 100uL) = 9E4 cells/mL in original solution
-observed wells ~ 3hr later.

12/12/08
Plating gigas hemocytes (12 well plates)-cont. from 12/10/08
-isolated RNA from all 12 tubes. total vol 20uL for each. NOTE: did not see pellet in any tubes, 260/280 ratios are not good. 260/230 ratios are really bad.
121208.jpg
-prepared cDNA from "1 mL samples" (6 samples total)using Quantitech kit . (I didn't do the other samples because I wanted to just get an idea of how duplicate wells looked)
-ran real-time PCR for the 6 samples using the following primers primers for PGE receptor (ID: PGLANDIN_E2), IL-17 (ID: IL-17 Iso D),18s (gigas 18s) and COX (gigas_pglandin). Also repeated samples from 12/04/08 run, but for the PGN 5ug/mL sample I ran out of cDNA and could only do 1 rep of 18s and no reps of IL-17. Annealing temperature for this run at 60C.
-notes: 18s melt curves are not very good. the peak is very broad. plate duplicates are also not very tight for this primer set (maybe pipetting?). finally the efficiency for 18s is ~0.69. 18s always have the lowest efficiency when I run these (<0.85), but this is really quite low.

RESULTS for 12/1/08 samples:
CONCLUSION: there is no dose response curve with increasing PGN-SA concentration (25 - 75 total ug/well) for these 3 genes
COX.jpg


pic_b_011108.jpg
pic_011108.jpg
RESULTS for 12/9/08 samples
CONCLUSION: duplicate wells in the cell culture plate are not consistent. This is not at all surprising since cells were clumping therefore there iwas no way to control for even distribution of cells across the different wells.
plate_.jpg


12/10/08
Plating gigas hemocytes (12 well plates)-cont. from 12/09/08
-washed all 12 wells 2x with 1mL sterile seawater. Even visually the wells still had "stuff" in them after washing.
-added PGN to wells in the following orde11:40 am:
3mL cell wells: 1 control (1mL sterile seawater), 2 PGN-SA at 50ug/mL (1 mL)
2mL cell wells: 1 control (1mL sterile seawater), 2 PGN-SA at 50ug/mL (1 mL)
1mL cell wells: 2 control (1mL sterile seawater), 2 PGN-SA at 50ug/mL (1 mL), 2 PGN-SA at 15ug/mL (1 mL)

no pics today (couldn't find camera), but I will note that I could not tell the differerence between wells with 1, 2 or 3mL of suspension. this is probably because the cells were very "clumpy". Cells were heavy in areas in the middle of the well, but very light in areas toward the outside of the well. The cells in the clumpy areas were spreading normally; whereas the cells in the sparse areas were starting to round up.

at 2:40, 3 hours after treatments, supernatant was removed from all 12 wells. 1 mL of tri reagent was added and tubes were stored at -80C in gigas hemocyte box.

For single cell suspensions (and/or getting rid of large particles) could try.....
Cellector (from Robyn's heart cell protocol)
Quick centrifugation: 30sec. ~4 - 800rpm - versus cell washing, which would be pelleting and resuspending cells multiple times in fresh sterile seawater to get rid of bacteria/etc. The here could be getting aggregates (because I have no other explanation for why cells looked different this time around).




12/09/08
Plating gigas hemocytes (12 well plates)
-playing around with plating cells in 12 well plates (what is well surface area? find out- macgavery macgavery) instead of 60mm dishes.
-extracted hemolymph from 8 lg. Pacific oysters (new stock). Was able to extract between 2 and 4 mL per oyster.
-cell counts:
-kept samples separate at first to try cell counts from each sampling. did a 1.5 dilution (200uL hemolymph, 100uL 0.4% Trypan blue) for each samples for counting, but the dye did not distribute evenly in solution, most of is was incorporated into large particles which made counting individual cells difficult since these large particles (didn't look like cells) covered ~1/2 of the viewing area.
-pooled samples (~18mL) and spun at 800rpm for 4min. Added 2 mL sterile seawater to sample and pulled to do a cell count. This was even worse because the particles were not just more concentrated (go figure). Tried to do a count off the supernatent, (just to see if the cells pelleted) and it appears they did
-added the supernatant back to the 2 mL pellet, then added 8 mL sterile seawater + Pen/Strep (28 mL total)
-added suspension to plate. Not sure how much volume to add to each well, so tried 1, 2 and 3mL (6, 3 and 3 wells respectively) to see what looks consistent to what has been observed in the 60mm dishes.
-placed plate at 12C protected from light.
-observed wells ~ 3hr later. it doesn't look like any of the wells have as many of the cells as what has been observed previously. Also can see bacteria are present.


12/06/08
troubleshooting melt curves from 12/04/08 run (cont from 12/5/08)
-real-time PCR repeating samples from 12/5/08 using on PGLANDIN_E2 fresh primers. Ran the plate as a "gradient" from 55 - 61C and plated samples in duplicate to compare results with 55C anneal (column 1) and 60C anneal (column 9).

Results of melting curve analysis:
The results from the 55C anneal are consistent with the run from 12/05/08, so it appears that I did not load the plate wrong on 12/5 but it does not explain why the 10/23 samples are now showing 2 peaks. However, the good news is at increasing the anneal temp to 60C results in 1 peak for all samples and nice looking Ct curves to boot. For future runs, use 60C

12/05/08
troubleshooting melt curves from 12/04/08 run
-real-time PCR using fresh stocks of 10uM IL-17 IsoD and PGLANDIN_E2. Also used PGLANDIN_E2 stocks from 12/04/08
samples: 2 samples from 12/4/08 (control and PGN-SA 5ug/mL), 2 samples from 11/18/08 (control and PGN-SA 3hr), 2 samples from 10/23/08 (control and PGN-SA 4hr). The samples from 11/18 and 10/23 were used as "controls" since both primers were used for these samples and showed expected results 1 single peak in melt curve.

Results of melting curve analysis:
IL-17: all 3 sets of samples (including the 12/4/08 samples which had 2 peaks in melt curve from first run) had only 1 peak in the melt curve using the new 10um primer stock. The old stocks were discarded.

PGLANDIN_E2: 2 sets of samples (11/18 and 12/04) showed only 1 peak on melting curve using both primer stocks ("fresh" and stocks from 12/04 run). However, the 10/23 samples (control and PGN-SA 4hr) showed 2 peaks on melting curve using both primer stocks.

Conclusions:
Although the data for IL-17 looks much better, the PGLANDIN_E2 data is confusing. I'm worried I loaded the samples in the wrong wells because the samples that showed 2 peaks on 12/4 show only 1 peak now, whereas the samples from 10/23 which were supposed to be "controls" showed 2 peaks. I am going to repeat the experiment with the PGLANDIN_E2 "fresh" stocks to verify results.


12/04/08
Plated Hemocytes cont. from 12/1/08
-prepared cDNA using Quantitect kit
-ran real-time PCR on samples using primers for PGE receptor (ID: PGLANDIN_E2), IL-17 (ID: IL-17 Iso D),18s (gigas 18s) and COX (gigas_pglandin). Samples run in duplicate on the plate
-results: melt curves showed 2 peaks for IL-17isoD, PGLANDIN_E2, and 18s. Will run troubleshooting plate to try to determine cause.

Gigas tissue from Vibrio tubiashii exposure and controls (10/23/08)
-ran real-time PCR using primers for COX (gigas_pglandin). Samples run in dplicate on the plate.


12/03/08
Plated Hemocytes cont. from 12/1/08
-isolated RNA from hemocytes plated 12/01/08 (4 samples). Final volume ~20uL RNA in H20.
today.jpg

12/02/08
Plated Hemoctes cont. from 12/1/08
plated hemocytes from oysters in FSH tanks
-after 16 hours at 12C (covered from light) plates were washed with 5 mL sterile seawater and 1 of the following treatments was added for 3 hours. After incubation the supe was removed to perform the ELISA (see below) and cells were washed off the plate w/ 1 mL TriReagent and stored in microcentrifuge tubes at -80C in 'gigas hemocyte' box:
1) 5mL sterile seawater (cell only control) - 3hours
2) 5mL PGN-SA at 5ug/mL - 3 hours
3) 5 mL PGN-SA at 10ug/mL - 3 hours
4) 5 mL PGN-SA at 15ug/mL - 3 hours
5) 5 mL PGN-SA at 15ug/mL (no cells control) - 3 hours
NOTE: control cells did not get 5 mL sterile seawater as stated. Cells had only a small amount of liquid covering them at 3 hrs. Some cells still alive (see pic below), but I'm sure they are quite stressed out. Do not appear to be quite as happy as plates with lower doses of PGN.

plated black abalone hemocytes:
-after 16 hours at 12C (covered from light) plates (1 with 2 mL abalone cells, 1 with 2 mL oyster cells) were washed with 5 mL sterile seawater and cells were washed off the plate w/ 0.5 mL TriReagent and stored in microcentrifuge tubes at -80C in 'gigas hemocyte' box. See photos below for cells "pre-wash". Cells were examined again post-wash to ensure cells were still adhered (which they were).

Pre-wash images:
prewash_cells_120208.jpg
Post wash images:
gigas_3hr_120208.jpg
PGE2 ELISA
Performed pilot PGE2 EIA, standards only, per protocol.
Results from 90min read:
curve.jpg
results.jpg
Summary of results:
-no dose response was observed
-PGN only sample (NO CELLS) showed response similar to samples with cells. Something weird going on there since spike recovery of PGN only was 33%. Why would PGN only have lower spike recovery than the same conc. of PGN +cells?
-it should be noted that the reagents were past their expiration date. May account for low R2 and/ or high %CV's between wells?

12/1/08
Plating C.gigas and abalone hemocytes
plated hemocytes from oysters in FSH tanks
-bled 8 C.gigas oysters and pooled hemolymph (~17.5mL)
-added 7mL sterile seawater containing (10U/mL penicilin 0.1 mg/mL streptomyocin)
-pipetted 5mL of hemolymph + antibiotic solution onto 4, 60mm culture plates coated with poly-d-lysine
-pipetted 5mL sterile sea water onto an additional plate to use as a control for the ELISA tomorrow
-placed plates in incubator at 12C at 4:30pm.

plating black abalone hemocytes:
-bled black abalone ~ 1mL
-added 1 mL sterile seawater containing (10U/mL penicilin 0.1 mg/mL streptomyocin)
-pipetted 2mL of hemolymph + antibiotic solution onto 1, 60mm culture plates coated with poly-d-lysine
-pipetted 2mL of C.gigas onto a second plate to compare cell density
-placed plates in incubator at 12C at 4:30pm.


Thoughts on plating oyster hemocytes for future experiments...
I would like to look into concentrating the hemocytes before plating so I can do a cell count and dilute to a known amount - maybe 1E6 cells/mL (or something) before plating. Then, I could potentially use smaller volumes per well for plating and use 12 well plates instead of individual dishes (only ~1 mL required). Just trying to think of ways to get more reps in, maybe more consistent results.

11/20/08
Graduate Student Symposium Presentation


11/18/08
Plated Hemocytes
-isolated RNA from hemocytes plated 11/13/08 (8 samples). Final volume ~40uL RNA in H20.
[[image:11:18_conc.jpg width="711" height="161"]]
-prepared cDNA using Quantitect kit
-ran real time PCR on samples using primers for PGE receptor (ID: PGLANDIN_E2), IL-17 (ID: IL-17 Iso D),18s (gigas 18s) and elongation factor1 (EF1). Samples run in duplicate on the plate
results:
redo.jpg
Summary:
-results for EF1 reps are questionable. The melt curves appear to have different peaks (different melt temps) for the 2 reps.
-well F1 (small plate control rep 2) is anomalous and should be excluded. PCR efficiency is only 40%
-in general, I do not have a lot of confidence in the "small" plate data since there were not a lot of cells present when the plates were viewed under the microscope, in addition a large # of bacteria were observed
-The data from the big oysters: IL-17, PGE receptor and 18s look good (agreement between reps, consistent melt curve), therefore I am confident in the anlysis of the results.
-The results for IL-17 expression in this experiment for PGN-SA 10ug/mL 3 hours, are consistent with the results from the previous experiment (see results 11/11/08), but the PGE receptor data is 35 fold higher than control in this experiment and 6 fold higher than control in the experiment 11/11/08.



11/14/08
Plated Hemoctes
-after 22 hours at 12C (covered from light) plates were washed with 5 mL sterile seawater (photos taken see below) and 1 of the following treatments was added (experiments were separated based on "big" or "small"), and incubated for either 1, 3 or 6 hours. After incubation the supe was removed and cells were washed off the plate w/ TriReagent and stored in microcentrifuge tubes at -80C in 'gigas hemocyte' box
"big"
1) 5mL sterile seawater (control) - 6hours
2) 5mL PGN-SA at 10ug/mL - 3 hours
3) 5 mL PGN-SA at 10ug/mL - 6 hours
4) 5 mL PGN-EC at 10ug/mL - 3 hours
5) 5 mL PGN-EC at 10ug/mL - 6 hours

"small"
1) 5mL sterile seawater (control) - 3 hours
2) 5mL PGN-EC at 10ug/mL - 1 hour
3) 5 mL PGN-EC at 10ug/mL - 3 hours
prewash.jpgpost_wash.jpg
6_hrs.jpg

Comments on pics:
pre-wash and post wash pictures on a different magnification
post-wash small was taken w/o flash
small plates to do not have a lot of attached cells
cell adherence at 6 hours appears the same for control and PGN treated plates (i.e. did not kill cells)


11/13/08
Plating C.gigas Hemocytes
-plated hemocytes from 2 groups of oysters in the FSH tanks: "big" and "small"
-plating "big":
-bled 6 C.gigas oysters and pooled hemolymph (~20mL)
-added 8 mL sterile seawater containing (10U/mL penicilin 0.1 mg/mL streptomyocin)
-pipetted 5mL of hemolymph + antibiotic solution onto 5, 60mm culture plates coated with poly-d-lysine
-placed plates in incubator at 12C at 1:30pm.
-plating "small":
-bled 6 C.gigas oysters and pooled hemolymph (~15mL)
-added 6 mL sterile seawater containing (10U/mL penicilin 0.1 mg/mL streptomyocin)
-pipetted 5mL of hemolymph + antibiotic solution onto 3, 60mm culture plates coated with poly-d-lysine
-placed plates in incubator at 12C at 1:30pm.
-also prepared V.tubiaschii in 5 mL of LB broth (2 conicals prepared) for use in challenge
(follow up on 11/14/08: NO GROWTH! plated additional LB plates to get 'fresh' colonies)



11/11/08
Plated Hemocytes
-performed real-time PCR on samples using primers for PGE receptor (ID: PGLANDIN_E2), IL-17 (ID: IL-17 Iso D) and 18s. samples run in duplicate on the plate
-results:
111108.jpg

Thoughts on why genomic DNA did not amplify using PGS_g primers (see 11/06/08): I was using the D.rerio COX gene to look for possible introns, and also used it to estimate size of gene (~5kb). However, the top blast hit for the C.gigas COX gene is the soft coral G. fruticosa which is a bit larger (~20kb). I would need to adjust the extension time per the Clontech protocol to amplify something this big.

Paper related to project topic:
Combined pesticide exposure and bacterial challenge: in vivo effects on immune response of Pacific oyster.
11/10/08
Plated Hemocytes
-isolated RNA from plated hemocytes (4 samples). Final volume ~50uL RNA in H20. NOTE: the 3ug/mL sample has a very low 260/230 ratio. A second reading was performed as confirmation. both results were consistent.
111008.jpg
-prepared cDNA from plated hemocytes using the Quntitect kit (4 samples).
Follow up: conc./profile check for 3 ug/mL and 10 ug/mL 24 hour samples (just to make sure weird profile of 3 ug/mL sample did not afect cDNA prep)
cDNA.jpg



11/08/08
Plated Hemocytes
-24 hours after treatment the 5 mL of PGN-SA or seawater only solution was aspirated from plates 1-3 and 1 mL of TriReagent was added to each plate. Cells were washed down the plate with TriReagent and the entire volume was placed in labeled microcentrifuge tubes and stored at -80 (Gigas Hemocyte box).

Trees Cont.
C.gigas PGS closest invertebrate relationship is to soft coral (COX A and B), closest vertebrate relationship is lancelet (COX-4), closer to "constitutive" COX-1 form in vertebrates. However, Havird paper states that Coral COX A and B do not represent COX-1 and -2 of vertebrates. Same case for C.gigas?
110808_tree.jpgexternal image moz-screenshot.jpg


11/07/08
Plated C.gigas Hemocytes
-after 24 hours at 12C (not covered from light) plates were washed with 5 mL sterile seawater and 1 of the following treatments was added:
1) 5mL sterile seawater (control)
2) 5mL PGN-SA at 3ug/mL
3) 5 mL PGN-SA at 10ug/mL
4) 5 mL PGN-SA at 10ug/mL (duplicate of 3)

-3 hours after treatment the 5 mL of PGN-SA solution was aspirated from plate 4 and 1 mL of TriReagent was added. Cells were washed down the plate with the TriReagent and the entire volume was stored at -80 (Gigas Hemocyte box).
image pre-washed plate (11:30am)
pre-wash.jpg

image 10ug/mL plate (2:30pm)
10ug_3_hr.jpg



11/06/08
Oyster Tissues
-verify purity of cDNA prepared 11/04/08 using Quantitect kit, by performing GoTaq PCR on cDNA prepared 11/04/08 using PGS_g primers.
(if there is contaminating genomic DNA it should show up as a 350bp band above the expected 250 bp band)

-GoTaq PCR rxns were performed for the following samples:
1)digestive gland (Quantitect cDNA prepared 11/04)
2)gill (Quantitect cDNA prepared 11/04)
3)gonad (Quantitect cDNA prepared 11/04)
4)mantle (Quantitect cDNA prepared 11/04)
5)muscle (Quantitect cDNA prepared 11/04)
6)gonad (cDNA prepared 10/21/07, 2 bands were observed on gel)
7)genomic A (prepared 10/22/08)
8)genomic D (prepared 10/22/08)
9-11) H20 blanks

-PCR rxn: each rxn contained 25 uL 2x GoTaq, 0.5 uL each F and R primer, 22 uL H20, 2uL template
-PCR annealing temp: 55C
-note: samples were placed in thermocycler and inadvertently left at 30C for ~ 60 min before PCR was initiated

-Results:
see top half of gel image below. Lane 1) hyperladder (8uL) Lanes 2 - 12) samples 1 through 11 in order stated above (30uL each).
The 2 bands observed in the gonad tissue from the PCR performed 10/21/08 were also observed on this gel as expeced (lane 6). The 2 genomic DNA samples (lane 8 and 9) showed the expected 350 bp band. The 5 tissue samples prepared using the Quantitect kit (lanes 2-6) showed 1 band at 250bp indicating that the samples are free from contaminating genomic DNA. The H20 blanks were free of bands (lanes 10-12).
-Conclusions:
The cDNA samples prepared 11/04/08 are free from contaminating genomic DNA.

PGS ORF amplification
-primers were generated that flanked the PGS ORF (ID: PGS_ORF). PCR was performed using Clontech Advantage Genomic LA Polymerase Kit with cDNA from C.gigas tissues (gill, gonad, mantle (prepared 11/04/08) and C. gigas genomic DNA (prepared 10/22/08)

-PCR rxn:
master mix (for 7 rxns)
5u/uL polymerase mix: 1.75 uL
10xGenomic LA buffer: 17.5 uL
10uM dNTP mix: 7.0 uL
10uM forward primer: 7.0 uL
10uM reverse primer: 7,0 uL
H20: 124.5 uL
--->23.5uL mastermix 1.5 uL template/rxn.

-PCR conditions:
94C, 1min
30 cycles
94C, 30s
55C, 1min
68C, 4 min
68C, 3min
RESULTS: See lower half of gel image below.
Lane ID: 1) Hyperladder, 2) gill, 3) gonad, 4) mantle, 5) genomic A, 6) genomic D, 7) H20 blank
The expected size of the PGS ORF is ~1700 bp. A band was observe in the gill tissue at the expected size. A faint band was observed at ~1700 bp in the mantle sample, but not in the gonad sample. It appears that all 3 samples have a HMW DNA band (genomic? this does not agree with results from PCR above). No bands were observed in either the genomic or blank lanes. The band observed from the gill tissue was exised and will be sent for sequencing.
el_and_ladder.jpg

Plating C.gigas Hemocytes
-bled 7 C.gigas oysters and pooled hemolymph (~15mL)
-added 6 mL sterile seawater containing (10U/mL penicilin 0.1 mg/mL streptomyocin)
-pipetted 5mL of hemolymph + antibiotic solution onto 4 60mm culture plates coated with poly-d-lysine
-placed plates in incubator at 12C at 4:20pm.



11/05/08
Oyster Tissues
-performed real-time PCR on oyster tissue cDNA generated 11/04/08
used the following primers: prostaglandin receptor (ID: PGLANDIN_E2), PGS (ID: PGS_g), 18s (ID: gigas 18s)
Results: the highest expression for both the receptor and the enzyme was observed in the gill, followed by the mantle tissue. The lowest expression was observed in the muscle for both the receptor and the enzyme. Within each tissue, the pattern of expression of the receptor and enzyme was "consistent" (i.e. either both up or both down within each tissue).
tissue_distribution.jpg
Trees Cont.
(take 2 in Geneious, imported some sequences based on NCBI tree (what is closest to sequence and other species w/ muliple forms of COX and PGS)
tree_1106.jpg


11/04/08
Oyster Tissues
-prepared new cDNA from 5 oyster tissue samples using Quantitect Kit (Qiagen).
Followed protocol from manufacturer: using 0.5 uL template (~0.4 - 1 ug RNA/rxn), and incubated max time at 42 for RT rxn (30 min)

Prostaglandin "Trees"
attemped to make trees using genious (top) and NCBI (bottom). Not sure what to make of them - I need to read up on what I'm doing.
PGS_tree_(using_ESTs_for_bivalve_species).jpg
NCBI_tree_blasting_ORFs.jpg




10/31/08
Oyster Hemocytes
real-time PCR
-ran duplicates of plated hemocytes with PGE receptor primers.
-results summarized below include data for plated hemocytes from all 3 days. Only day 10/31/08 was plated in duplicate.
Slide2.jpg

Oyster Tissues
-ran RNA diluted (1:4) using 18s primers. All 5 samples showed amplification, indicating the presence of contaminating DNA. Next steps: generate new cDNA using Quantitect Kit which includes a DNase step.


10/30/08
gigas genomic DNA
PCR using 3 sets of PGS primers
-amplify genomic DNA using Clontech Advantage Genomic LA Polymerase Mix
-used genomic DNA from C. gigas prepared 10/22/08 (see reference in this notebook from 10/22)
-samples A (large volume) and D (small volume) were selected for amplification (because I broke the tubes for B and C in the centrifuge (which was cleaned well afterwards)
-3 primer sets are available for the current working PGS sequence:
-"PGS_g_F/R" (#504/505 in primer database).
-"gigas_plandin-Rv/Fw" (#412/413)
-"PGScompleteF/R" (#470/469)
PGS_sequence.png

-based on the genomic data from the Danio rerio, the expeced genomic band sizes are:
-PGS_g: ~750 bp
-gigas_pglandin: ~250 bp
-PGS_complete: ~4.1kb

PCR rxn:
master mix (for 2 rxns)
5u/uL polymerase mix: 0.5 uL
10xGenomic LA buffer: 5.0 uL
10uM dNTP mix: 2uL
10uM forward primer: 2uL
10uM reverse primer: 2uL
H20: 35.5uL
47uL ---> 23.5uL mastermix 1.5 uL template/rxn.

PCR conditions:
94C, 1min
30 cycles
94C, 30s
62C, 1min
68C, 4 min
68C, 3min
(this is based on Clontech recommendation for expeced sizes <5kb, note: Clontech recommended at 2 step cycle, but suggested if annealing temps were <65C to do a 3 step cycle)

Gel:
(added 5uL Bioline loading dye to each rxn. (except lane 2 which was loaded without dye), loaded entire vol. ~30uL/well)
Lane ID
1. Hyperladder (Bioline)
2. genomic A / PGS_g prim
3. genomic D / PGS_g primers
4. genomic A / gigas_plgandin primers
5. genomic D / gigas_pglandin primers
6. genomic A / PGScomplete primers
7. genomic D / PGScomplete primers
8. Hyperladder (MW for lower set of marker bands from bottom: 200bp, 400bp, 600, 800, 1000bp)
103008_cropped_gel.png
Results:
The band size for PGS_g primers is smaller than expected (~400 bp). THe band size for gigas_pglandin primer is as expected. No bands present for PGScomplete primers (why?: not sure. wrong sequence, wrong PCR conditions?)
Bands from lane 3 and 4 were excised and will be sent for sequencing.


10/27/08
Oyster Hemocytes
real-time PCR
-duplicated real-time PCR 10/23
-in addition, included duplicate preps using IL17 iso D primers (gene: interleukin 17)
Results: -for oyster hemocytes from bacterial challenge experiment see below for data from this run as well as initial run on 10/23/08.
PGER_treated_and_control.jpg
-for plated hemocyte samples (PGE receptor primer) data see summary of results under 10/31/08
-for IL-17 results see summary belowSlide3.jpg


10/23/08

Oyster Hemocytes
cDNA Preparation
-prepared new cDNA using Qiagen Quantitect kit which includes a DNAse step to eliminate genomic DNA
-repeated real-time PCR using the new cDNA (PGE receptor pimers (ID: PGLANDIN_E2, 18s)
results: reference summary results under 10/30/08.

Oyster Tissue Distribution
Ran gel from GoTaq PCR performed 10/22/08
-ran samples from GoTaq PCR prepared 10/22/08 on a 1.4% agarose gel and included Hyper ladder (Bioline)
1) DNA ladder in-house prep (20uL)
2) digestive gland (20 uL)
3) gill (25uL)
4) gonad (25uL)
5) mantle (25uL)
6) muscle (25uL)
7) water blank (25uL)
8) genomic A (25uL)
9) genomic A (25uL)
10) genomic A (25uL)
11) genomic A (25uL)
12) Hyper ladder (8uL)
UVP00145.png
Results:
The band estimated to be ~250 bp when compared to the Hyperladder (concordant with the 'lower band' in the 10/22 gel) was observed in the digestive gland and gill sample only. No bands were observed in the gonad, mantle or muscle sample. In addition, no bands were observed in the genomic samples.



10/22/08

Oyster Tissue Distribution

Re-run gel from 10/21
-re-ran samples from GoTaq PCR prepared 10/21/08 on a 1.4% agarose gel and included Hyper ladder (Bioline)
1) DNA ladder in-house prep (20uL)
2) digestive gland (20 uL)
3) gill (20uL)
4) gonad (20uL)
5) mantle (20uL)
6) muscle (20uL)
7) water blank (20uL)
8) Hyper ladder (8uL)
UVP00144.png
Results:
results are consistent with 10/21/08 gel. The lower band observed in all 5 samples migrated just below the 100bp ladder band and the upper band observed in the gonad sample migrated just below the 200bp band. However, there is some discrepancy between the 2 ladder at the band IDs on the Bioline Hyperladder estimate the observed bands to be ~250 and 350 bp respectively.
Conclusions:
The expected size of the PCR product is ~250 bp. If comparing the result to the Hyperladder, the expected product is observed in all 5 tissues. There is a second band at at ~350 bp which is observed in the gonad sample only. These PGS_ g primers were designed around and intron to be able to detect potential carryover genomic DNA. No large bands were observed in these samples, so it appears that there is no carryover, however genomic DNA should run as a positive control. There is some discrepancy in the size estimation between the 2 ladders, not sure why.
Next steps:
The original PCR was performed with a 50C annealing temperature (based on annealing temp of 53C for forward primer and 57C for reverse primer and temp of 50C was chosen). The PCR will be repeated using an annealing temperature of 60C (based on recommended temperature from primer design software (NCBI)) to increase specifcility. Four genemic DNA samples will be included as controls.

GoTaq PCR
-performed GoTaq PCR of orignal 5 samples above and 4 geneomic controls*. Increased annealing temperature from 55C to 60C for this run.
50uL reaction (25uL 2x GoTaqMM, 0.5uL Pf, 0.5 uL Pr, 22 uL water, 2 uL template). Annealing temperature was 60C.
stored samples at -20C (in Mac's samples box)

*genomic control preparation:
genomic DNA was prepared from frozen (-20C) C. gigas using 10% Chelex. A small amount of tissue was placed into individual microcentrifuge tubes
and ~ 0.5 mL of 10% Chelex was added. Samples were heated to 95C for 20 min, then cooled to 4C for ~10min before removing from the minicycler.
tubes were centrifuged at max speed for ~5 min. 2uL of supernatant were used for PCR reactions.
Tubes labeled at "gigas genomic A - D" and placed frozen at -20 (in Mac's samples box)

Oyster Hemocytes

real time PCR:

rtPCR C. gigas hemocytes - Prostaglandin E2 receptor
-Real-time was performed using prostaglandin E2 receptor primers and 18s primers.
Results: not reported since samples showed presence of contaminating DNA. (see below)
rtPCR C. gigas hemocytes - 18s
-Real-time was performed on same 12 samples using primers for 18s. To control for presence of genomic DNA in the samples. The origninal RNA was diluted 1:4 (1uL RNA, 3uL water) to mimic dilution used to prepare cDNA (5uL RNA, 15uL master mix). 1 uL of either cDNA or diluted RNA was added.]
Results: amplification was observed indicating presence of DNA. Next step: make new cDNA using Quantitect Kit (Clonetech) which includes a DNase step.



10/21/08

Oyster Tissue Distribution

rtPCR - gigas tissue distribution
-performed real-time PCR using new PGS primers (ID: PGS_g). Water blanks came up positive results are inconclusive.
-note: also attempted to run PGE receptor primers (ID: pglandin), but sequence wasn't correct compared to 2008 paper.

GoTaq PCR - gigas tissue distribution
-performed GoTaq PCR using the new PGS primers (ID: PGS_g),
50uL reaction (25uL 2x GoTaqMM, 0.5uL Pf, 0.5 uL Pr, 22 uL water, 2 uL template). Annealing temperature was 50C.
-Ran products on 1.2% agarose gel, ~30uL loaded for each sample, 20uL for ladder
Lane ID:
1) DNA ladder (in-house prep)
2) digestive gland
3) gill
4) gonad
5) mantle
6) muscle
7) water blank
insert picture here ~~

Results:
1 band observed in all tissues at ~100bp according to the ladder. A second band observed at ~200 bp in gonad
Conclusions:
The expected size of the PCR product is ~250bp. The results of this gel are not consistent with the expected band sizes.
Next steps:
The gel will be re-run using a 1.4% agarose gel along with a second DNA ladder, Hyperladder (Bioline)

Oyster Hemocytes
RNA Isolation
-isolated RNA from the following 12 samples:
8 samples collected from bacteria challenged oysters and controls on 10/09/08 (ID: U1, U2, U3, U4, T1, T2, T3, T4)
4 samples collected from plated hemocytes. Reference: Sam's notebook 10/17/08, 10/18/08 (ID: plated hemocytes control,
plated hemocytes +PGN-SA 15 ug, 4hr, plated hemocytes + PGN-SA 15 ug, 24hr, plated hemocytes + V.t. 3 hr)
stored RNA at -80C (shellfish RNA box 4)
concentration of samples:
paste_this_one.png



cDNA
-prepared cDNA for all 12 samples
stored at -20C (in Mac's samples box)









10/20/08
-prepared cDNA from RNA isolated from oyster tissues on 10/17/08
oyster_tissue_mRNA_conc.jpg


10/17/08
-isolated RNA from tissues of untreated oyster sampled 10/09/08.
-samples: digestive gland, gill, gonad, mantle, muscle
-stored samples at -80C, shellfish shelf, shellfish box #5
-still need to quantitate concentration and evalute for purity


10/09/08
Gigas V. tubiashii continued from 10/08/08
-pulled hemolymph samples from both treated (T) and untreated (U) oysters (4 oysters each condition)
-sample ID: T1 (large oyster), T2 (large), T3 (small), T4 (small), U1 (large), U2 (large), U3 (small), U4 (small)
-spun samples at ~400RCF for 15min
-removed supe (i.e. hemolynph) for PGE ELISA
-excess supe and hemocytes frozen at -80C (shellfish shelf)
-tested 2 "best" hemolymph samples from treated (T2 and T4) and untreated (U2 and U3) groups to run in PGE ELISA (1:2 dilution using EIA buffer).
-reference protocol 10/02/08.

PGE2 ELISA
Results:
-all 4 samples showed decreased absorbance (OD) compared to maximum binding wells (%binding sample =OD sample/OD max binding well * 100%) indicating the presence of PGE2 in the samples (T2 and T4 ~60% of max binding, U2 and U3 ~40% of max binding).
-spike recoveries of the samples tested 1:2 were ~50% for all 4 samples indicating some type of inhibition from the sample matrix.
-samples T4 and U3 were tested neat for additional information. It was expected that the results of the neat samples would be 2x that of the 1:2 samples, but that was not observed (both samples were ~70% of max binding). The cause is most likely due to inhibition of the sample matrix (NOTE: it is not recommended to run samples neat in the ELISA manual).

Conclusions:
-It appears that PGE2 is present in C.gigas samples
-There is some inhibition using a 1:2 sample dilution in EIA buffer. Future analysis should include a higher dilution.
-Future assays would also benefit from having a "sea water negative control" to verify the sample response is specific to PGE2.

Screenshot of results spreadsheet:
results ELISA.tiff
note: curve values used were "expected" values from manual, therefore reporting results in terms of pg/mL is not recommended
spike recovery calculation using back calculated results: (sample+spike - sample)/spike alone * 100%





10/08/08
Gigas V. tubiashii continued from 10/07/08 (Sam's notebook):
-added 2 small oysters to each tank
-quantified amount of V. tubiashii: bacteria/mL = (OD of sample at 550nm) * 5E8 bacterial/mL
-determined to have: =1.633*5e8bacteria/mL = 8.2E8bacteria/mL*1000mL=8.2E11 bacteria
-inoculated 1 tank w/ 8.2E11 bacteria at 2:45pm


10/03/08
Reverse transcription of RNA isolated 9/30/8 from plated gigas hemocytes. Stored cDNA at -20C

10/02/08
Performed pilot PGE2 EIA, standards only, per protocol. Read plate at 405 nm on Victor3 plate reader in the Seeb's lab. Exported data into template provided by Cayman Chemical. Curve at 65 min read has R2=0.88, at 90 min the R2=0.99. (note to self: I need to take a closer look at the macro from Cayman to see how the data are presented.)
Results 65 min read
Results 90 min read
notes about procedure:
-I think the standard curve could be improved by using different pipette tips when loading standard. The kit protocol specifies to use the same tip when loading the standards, but the soln. was kind of viscous and I think it impacted accuracy.
-Both the 65 and 90 min reads were in the range of the protocol (AU of maximum binding wells between 0.3-1.0 AU), but I find higher readings reduce variability between wells and smooths out curves. I recommend doing both reads for future plates.

10/01/08
Prepared some reagents for the PGE2 EIA (Cayman Chemical). It should be noted that the kit has an expiration date of 28Sep2008. Bummer. Will still plan on running pilot plate with standards only tomorrow.

9/30/08

Isolated RNA from gigas hemocytes plated by Sam on 9/29/08. Images of cells were obtained prior to isolation. 20µL of sample @ 54 ng/µL ( ~ 1ug) was stored at -80C.
notes about procedure:
-pellet was really small and hard to see with less than recommended amount of tissue. it's pretty stable at isopropanol step (i.e. not too worried about sucking up the pellet) but be more careful at ethanol step.
-even though total tissue amount was less than suggested in protocol all volumes used were the same, except! final step where sample was dissolved in 20µL of water (instead of recommended 50 - 100uL).


9/26/08
Real-time PCR Vibrio Experiment

Samples:
a) gigas plated hemocytes/Vibrio:
1.gigas plated only
2. V.t. 3 hrs;
3. gigas plated hemo + V.t.
4. gigas plated hemo + V.t. supe

b) gigas hemo/Vibrio liquid
5.V.t.; Marine broth (MB)
6.V.t.; MB; seawater
7. gigas hemo + V.t.;MB
8.gigas hemo;MB

Genes:
gigas 18s

Results:
The results of this experiment are inconclusive. All 8 samples showed amplification with the 18s primers. Since 18s should be specific to oyster, it was unexpected to see amplification in the vibrio only control samples (i.e. samples 2, 5 and 6). This experiment should be repeated.
09/24/08
Real-time PCR Vibrio Expt

@ Mac : lets start scanning as images (not pdfs) - sr320 sr320 Sep 24, 2008

Samples:
a) gigas plated hemocytes/Vibrio:
1.gigas plated only
2. V.t. 3 hrs;
3. gigas plated hemo + V.t.
4. gigas plated hemo + V.t. supe

b) gigas hemo/Vibrio liquid
5.V.t.; Marine broth (MB)
6.V.t.; MB; seawater
7. gigas hemo + V.t.;MB
8.gigas hemo;MB

Genes:
prostaglandin E2 receptor (primer name: TBD)
prostaglandin synthase (primer name: TBD

Results:
Both genes showed amplification in one or more of the samples. However no conclusion can be made until a normalizing gene has been run (see 9/26/08). As a side note, sample 2. V.t. 3 hrs. showed amplification with both genes. This is unexpected as the sample is a vibrio only control.