Jul 18, 2022

Public workspaceNGS workflow with rRNA depletion for viral RNA sequencing from animal tissue specimens 

  • 1Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, KU Leuven – University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;
  • 2National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
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Protocol CitationYiqiao Li, Magda Bletsa, Ine Boonen, Philippe Lemey 2022. NGS workflow with rRNA depletion for viral RNA sequencing from animal tissue specimens . protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.kqdg3p6pel25/v1
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 with NGS library preparation aiming to generate complete hepacivirus genomes from animal samples.
Created: January 19, 2022
Last Modified: July 18, 2022
Protocol Integer ID: 57120
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Abstract
This NGS workflow describes how to prepare libraries from total RNA with a rRNA depletion step to increase the yield of non-host RNA transcripts.
This workflow was initially designed with the aim of generating full-length hepaciviruses, but can also be used for sequencing any other RNA viral sequences or RNA-related metagenomes.
Materials
ABC
KK4601KAPA SYBR® FAST Master Mix (2X) UniversalRoche
Q10210Qubit RNA BR assay kit (100 assays)Thermo fisher
5067-1511Agilent RNA 6000 Nano kit (reagents + chips)Agilent
E6310 (S/L/X)NEBNext rRNA Depletion kit (Human/Mouse/Rat)NEB
A63987NEBNext RNA sample purification beads, Agencourt RNA clean XP beads from Beckman coulterBeckman Coulter
NOVA-5138-08, 48 rxnsNextFlex Rapid directional RNAseq kitPerkinElmer
Cat # 512911, 512912, 512913, 512914NEXTflex RNA-Seq Barcodes – 6 /12/ 24 / 48PerkinElmer
A63880Agencourt AMPure XP 5 ml Beckman Coulter
Q32851 (100 assays), Q32854 (500 assays)Qubit dsDNA HS assay kitThermofisher
Q32856 (500 tubes)Qubit Assay tubesThermofisher
5067-4626Bioanalyzer Agilent High Sensitivity DNA Kit (110 samples) (chips and reagents)Agilent
5067-4627Bioanalyzer Agilent High Sensitivity DNA reagents (enough for 10 chips)Agilent
7960336001KK4873, complete kit Rox Low KAPA Library Quanitification Kits - Complete Kit (ROX Low)Kapa biosystems
 TET-buffer (Tris-Cl (10mM) EDTA (1mM) Tween 20 (0.1%) 
   
Library amplification  
PCR Primer 1AATGATACGGCGACCACCGAGATCTACAC 
PCR Primer 2CAAGCAGAAGACGGCATACGAGAT 
   
Safety warnings
To minimise the effect of index hopping, libraries need to be stored individually at -20 °C. Prepare the pools only when you are ready to send those for sequencing.
1. Pre quantity QC
1. Pre quantity QC

The quantity of total RNA is evaluated using Qubit RNA BR assay kit (following manufacturer's protocol)
30m
2. Pre quality QC
2. Pre quality QC
The quality of total RNA is evaluated using the Agilent RNA 6000 Nano kit in Bioanalyzer (following the manufacturer's protocol)
(based on previous Qubit results and the bioanalyzer kit range, prepare samples dilution 1:10 or else for bioanalyzer)
Samples with RIN>2 can proceed to the next step of rRNA depletion
1h
3. rRNA depletion
3. rRNA depletion
Adjust your starting material, which can be anything between 5 ng–1 µg total RNA (DNA free), according to the Qubit results in a 12 µl total volume reaction with nuclease-free water, and follow the manufacturer's manual of NEBNext rRNA Depletion kit (Human/Mouse/Rat) to remove total rRNA.
This kit removes any rRNA while retaining the viral RNA. Upon incubation, we evaluate our results using a custom qPCR assay targeting the 12S rRNA and the NS3 genomic region of hepaciviruses.
Analogous evaluation is recommended while working with other viruses.
Protocol
NEBNext rRNA Depletion Kit (Human/Mouse/Rat) E6310
NAME
NEBNext rRNA Depletion Kit (Human/Mouse/Rat) E6310
CREATED BY
Isabel Gautreau

3h
4. Post quantity/quality QC
4. Post quantity/quality QC
Upon rRNA depletion, the RNA product is quantified and qualified using the Qubit RNA BR assay kit (or Qubit RNA HS assay kit based on the results) and the Agilent RNA 6000 Pico kit following manufacturer's protocol.
1h 30m
5. Library preparation
5. Library preparation
Based on the Qubit results obtained in step 4, set the total amount of rRNA-depleted RNA input to anything between ~1ng - 100 ng.
Adjust to 14µL with nuclease-free water.
Follow the protocol of NGS library preparation using the NEXTFLEX Rapid Directional RNAseq kit (NOVA-5138-08) for tissue samples.
(will be released soon, current private link:
5. Library quality/quantity QC
5. Library quality/quantity QC
Check the fragment size of your libraries using Bioanalyzer with the Agilent High Sensitivity DNA kit
(following manufacturer's protocol, starting material: 1 µL)
The ideal fragment size for Illumina sequencing should range between 350-500bp.
Check the total amount of prepared libraries for pooling and confirm whether the adaptors are well ligated. This can be tested using a qPCR assay for each library with the complete Rox Low kit with Illumina general primers (catalogue number KK4873).

Prepare dilutions of your DNA libraries in 1:10, 1:1000, and 1:8000 with TET-buffer/nuclease-free water.

Prepare the master mix as follows:
KAPA Master Mix 12 µl
H2O 4 µl
Diluted DNA 4 µl
(total volume 20 µl)
Load in 96-well plate

The PCR cycling conditions are listed below :


6. Library pooling
6. Library pooling
Pool libraries according to the library requirements of your sequencing platform.

Pool together 8-12 libraries (differs according to customers' demands for deep or ultra-deep sequencing) and adjust the volume using the same reagent as the one used for the elution in the library preparation step.

Ready for sequencing!