Oct 17, 2024

Public workspaceExtraction of high molecular weight DNA from bacteriophage

This protocol is a draft, published without a DOI.
  • 1Telethon Kids Institute;
  • 2University of Western Australia;
  • 3Curtin University
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Protocol CitationSamuel Montgomery, Mitchell Hedges 2024. Extraction of high molecular weight DNA from bacteriophage. Protocol exchange https://protocols.io/view/extraction-of-high-molecular-weight-dna-from-bacte-dh7w39pe
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,  which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working.
Created: August 01, 2024
Last Modified: October 17, 2024
Protocol Integer ID: 104406
Keywords: phage, bacteriophage, DNA extraction, DNA isolation, precipitation, zinc chloride, high molecular weight, HMW DNA, phage concentration
Funders Acknowledgement:
Medical Research Future Fund
Grant ID: 2023559
Disclaimer
The digestion step (where exogenous bacterial nucleic acids are degraded) may require optimisation i.e. longer incubation times or additional volume of enzyme. Sufficient removal of bacterial nucleic acids can be dependent on the growth media used for bacterial propagation, the growth characteristics of the host, the composition of the phage collection buffer and ultimately the yield of bacterial nucleic acid liberated during phage propagation.
Abstract
Extraction of High Molecular Weight DNA from dsDNA bacteriophages can be achieved using an isopropanol precipitation method which can be used for long read whole genome sequencing, such as Oxford Nanopore Technology.

This is a forked protocol from https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.3byl4qwqovo5/v1, which instead uses zinc chloride for bacteriophage virion precipitation to concentrate the sample.
Guidelines
This protocol can be used to extract DNA from bacteriophage within bacterial lysates.
It is ideal to extract phages which have a titre of 1 x 1010 to 1 x 1011 PFU/mL, however lower titres can be extracted successfully.
Materials
The following materials were utilised for this protocol:

  • Puregene tissue kit (Qiagen, #158023) containing cell lysis solution, protein precipitation buffer, proteinase K, RNase A (4 mg/mL), and DNA hydration buffer
  • Ethanol, molecular grade (Sigma, #E7023)
  • UltraPure molecular grade water (ThermoFisher, #10977015)
  • DNAse I (NEB, #M0303S)
  • DNAse I 10x reaction buffer (NEB, #B0303SVIAL)
  • Isopropanol, molecular grade (Sigma, #I9516)
  • Zinc chloride (ZnCl2) powder (Merck, Cat#: Z0152-50G)
  • Hydrochloric acid 32% AR Grade (Chem Supply, Cat# HA020-500M)
  • DNA LoBind 2.0mL tubes (Thermo Fisher, #30108.078)
Safety warnings
While this protocol does not utilise common hazardous chemicals used for DNA extraction (phenol/chloroform), care should be taken to follow the recommendations in the MSDS provided which each reagent, and ensure proper storage for the dangerous goods utilised in this protocol (flammable liquids etc)
Before start
This protocol extracts DNA from a 700μL aliquot of bacteriophage lysate, however the starting lysate volume can be scaled up. If scaling up, adjust the reagent volumes in all steps up until the zinc chloride pelleting step, ensuring consistent ratios throughout the protocol to this point. Once the zinc chloride pellet has had the supernatant removed, the protocol volumes resume at the described amount.
Preparation of reagents
Preparation of reagents
17m
17m
Ethanol (70% v/v)
Create a Concentration70 % (v/v) solution of molecular grade ethanol using UltraPure water (approx. Amount400 µL per sample)
2m
Digestion Master Mix
  • Calculate the required volume of Digestion Mix for the number of samples you wish to process
  • Each Amount700 µL sample of bacteriophage lysate requires Amount78 µL of Digestion Mix
  • Create this by adding Amount1 µL of DNAse I and Amount1 µL of RNAse A to Amount76 µL of 10X DNAse I reaction buffer and place on ice

3m
Zinc chloride solution (Concentration2 Molarity (M) )
  1. Weigh Amount0.68 g of ZnCl2 and add to Amount2.5 mL of molecular grade water
  2. Carefully add Amount2.5 µL of Concentration32 % (v/v) hydrochloric acid to the zinc solution and gently swirl to allow complete dissolution. Note: this step generates heat
  3. Measure a small aliquot of the solution on a pH meter, a Concentration2 Molarity (M) solution of zinc chloride should have a pH Ph4.5 to Ph7 to ensure Zn+2 ions are available in solution
10m
EDTA Solution (Concentration0.1 Molarity (M) )
Add Amount200 µL of Concentration0.5 Molarity (M) molecular grade EDTA to Amount800 µL of UltraPure water

2m
DNA extraction
DNA extraction
2h 8m
2h 8m
Add Amount78 µL of Digestion Master Mix to Amount700 µL of syringe filtered (Thikness0.22 µm ) bacteriophage lysate in a 1.5mL LoBind microtube and mix via gentle pipetting

1m
Incubate for Duration00:30:00 at Temperature37 °C using a Thermomixer without shaking.
Note: longer incubation times may be necessary to achieve complete degradation of bacterial DNA and RNA. It is advisable to quantify the amount of bacterial DNA and RNA pre- and post-digestion to ensure bacterial nucleic acids do not contamination phage DNA.
30m
Add Concentration2.5 % (v/v) of Concentration2 Molarity (M) zinc chloride solution (freshly made) to the bacteriophage lysate for a final concentration of Concentration50 millimolar (mM) and mix via gentle pipetting
1m
Incubate the sample for Duration00:05:00 at Temperature37 °C
5m
Centrifuge for Duration00:10:00 at Centrifigation8000 rcf, Room temperature and remove supernatant by aspiration

10m
Add Amount50 µL of Concentration0.1 Molarity (M) EDTA solution to the phage pellet, pipetting and stirring gently with the pipette tip to break up the pellet, noting it is not necessary to resuspend the pellet during this step

1m
Add Amount1.5 µL of Proteinase K (Concentration20 mg/mL ) and Amount250 µL of Cell Lysis Solution to the phage pellet and mix by gently pipetting up and down 25 times

1m
Incubate for Duration01:00:00 at Temperature56 °C in a thermomixer at Shaker500 rpm and then pre-cool a centrifuge to Temperature4 °C
1h
Place sample on ice for Duration00:01:00

1m
Add Amount100 µL of protein precipitation solution and mix thoroughly by inverting the tube 50 times

2m
Incubate samples on ice for Duration00:05:00

5m
Centrifuge tube at Centrifigation16000 rcf, 4°C, 00:10:00

10m
The precipitated proteins should form a tight pellet. If the protein pellet is not tight, or there is still some in solution, repeat the incubation and centrifugation
Add supernatant to a new 1.5mL LoBind tube, careful not to disturb the protein pellet
1m
DNA precipitation
DNA precipitation
1h 46m
1h 46m
Add Amount300 µL of isopropanol to a new 1.5mL LoBind tube and carefully add the supernatant from the previous step by pipetting from the air-liquid interface the sample, mix by inverting the tube 50 times

3m
Incubate at TemperatureRoom temperature for Duration00:05:00
5m
Centrifuge at Centrifigation16000 rcf, Room temperature, 00:05:00 placing the hinge of the tube at the top of the centrifuge to assist in identifying the location of the DNA pellet once centrifuged

5m
Discard the supernatant by slowly drawing with a pipette at the air-liquid interface to avoid disturbing the pellet, which may be difficult to see
Note
Pellets when precipitated with isopropanol will be near invisible, and easily detached from the tube, so care must be taken not to discard the DNA pellet.

1m
Add Amount300 µL of Concentration70 % (v/v) ethanol to the sample and invert 10 times to wash the pellet

2m
Centrifuge at Centrifigation16000 x g for Duration00:01:00

1m
Discard the supernatant, and allow the pellet to air dry for Duration00:05:00
5m
Add Amount30 µL of DNA hydration solution or nuclease free water to the pellet

1m
Incubate at Temperature65 °C for Duration01:00:00 to dissolve the DNA, or incubate in the fridge at Temperature4 °C DurationOvernight

1h
After this step, DNA is ready to be quantified and used downstream. DNA resuspended in water should be stored at Temperature-20 °C , while DNA resuspended in DNA hydration solution can be stored for up to one month at Temperature4 °C

Protocol references
Saladié M, Caparrós-Martín JA, Agudelo-Romero P, Wark PAB, Stick SM, O'Gara F. Microbiomic Analysis on Low Abundant Respiratory Biomass Samples; Improved Recovery of Microbial DNA From Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid. Front Microbiol. 2020 Oct 6;11:572504. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.572504. PMID: 33123104