Five Questions on QPCR

2. Is my RNA degraded?

Ilan Kerman, a research fellow at the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan School of Medicine, also wants to verify microarray-derived gene-expression­ changes. But Kerman's sample - human postmortem brain mRNA collected from small numbers of laser microdissected cells - doesn't make it easy. Some 20 to 25 hours elapse between death and tissue harvest, says Kerman, an interval that can lead to RNA degradation. "We know it's more degraded than RNA [obtained] from a rat that you sacrifice right away." Furthermore, he says, the changes he's trying to observe range from 20% to perhaps 90%, "definitely less than twofold."

According to James Willey, professor of medicine and pathology at the University of Toledo, Ohio, Kerman faces two potential problems: intersample variation in RNA degradation, and low RNA quantity. "With respect to RNA quality, QPCR is much more forgiving than other gene-expression measurement methods," Willey writes in an E-mail, "especially if the design results in small-size PCR amplicons (e.g., less than 150 bp long)." Moreover, different genes degrade at different rates, he adds.

Willey suggests checking the quality of the RNA on a gel. "If both ribosomal bands are apparent in electrophoretically separated whole RNA and/or if the RNA integrity number (RIN) is high (as described by Agilent), it is likely to yield reliable QPCR results. However, if neither ribosomal band is apparent and/or the RIN value is low, it is likely that a gene-specific criterion for sample quality will need to be established."

With respect to RNA quantity, he continues, one issue is that with very low template amounts, stochastic sampling errors can cause big swings in cycle threshold (Ct) values. "There are many potential causes of a high cycle threshold (e.g., of 34 or 35 or greater)," says Willey, including both low template amounts and gene-specific inhibitors. The way to distinguish the two, he says, "is to include a known number of molecules of an internal standard in each assay."

3. How do I detect low-copy-number templates?

Jill Petrisko, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Idaho, Idaho Falls, uses TaqMan chemistry and a Cepheid SmartCycler II to quantify fungal infection of wheat seedlings. It took months to get her assay working properly. "One of the problems I've had is that I was using a single-copy gene for the assay. It was really hard to detect the fungal DNA in the sample within the assay's linear range," she says. Between 20 and 30 cycles. Her original solution - concentrating the DNA to increase the amount in the reaction - solved her detection problem, but lowered her reproducibility. She eventually switched her primers to detect a multicopy target instead.

"With low-copy-number samples, I try to find ways to increase copy numbers," says Knudtson, either by lengthening the reverse transcriptase reaction (for mRNA quantification) or by increasing the reaction volume. "Many of these kits are sold to be run in 50-µl reactions," Knudtson explains. To cut costs many investigators run reactions at 20 or 25 µl instead, "but if you were going to stay at 50 or even go to 100 µl, you could add more template." An added bonus, says Knudtson: Larger volumes typically give better reproducibility.

4. When is a negative really negative?

Margaret Green, a molecular biologist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Sidney, British Columbia, uses a Roche LightCycler 1.5 with both TaqMan and SYBR Green chemistries for DNA detection via QPCR. "I'm working on developing methods of detection for various targets," Green says. Working in a diagnostic laboratory, it's important to distinguish samples positive for low copy number from actual negatives. "I'd like to know, when a sample has a late Ct value [for instance, greater than 37], can you call that negative?" she asks.

"For me, a Ct of 37 or above is not detectable because there is less than one template molecule available for detection," Shipley writes in an E-mail. A single copy of a 100-bp amplicon can be detected in 35 or 36 cycles, he says, assuming the assay has a near perfect slope that can be transformed into near 100% PCR efficiency. (As the slope increases in value, so will the Ct values, he cautions). "Keeping this in mind, looking for positive results below these values is pointless." Grove suggests upping the template in the reaction, as well as running a nontemplate control reaction.

5. What do I do about inhibitors?

Malcolm Shields, associate professor of microbiology at Idaho State University, uses QPCR to detect and enumerate bacterial species from environmental samples. "We're preparing to do some QPCR on crude samples - sewage," says Shields, who uses an MJ Research Chromo4 system and SYBR Green chemistry. The problem, Shields notes, is inhibitors: Potential sources of inhibition include humic and fulvic acids - carbohydrate derivatives that polymerize and copurify with nucleic acids - plus proteases, detergents, and the like. His solution: Make the DNA as pure as possible, and use spike-in controls to highlight inhibition.

Pamela Scott Adams, director of the Molecular Biology Core Facility at the Trudeau Institute, Saranac Lake, NY, says there's one dead giveaway that you have inhibition. "If you run a standard curve [and] you have 100% efficiency in the assay, then the slope is -3.3," says Adams. If the slope indicates you have greater than 100% efficiency, that's a clear sign that you have inhibition.

"There are some very good commercial columns out there to remove inhibitors," says Willey. "When we do analyses on human primary tissues, we typically use a [phenol-based] TRI Reagent extraction [from Molecular Research Center, Cincinnati] followed by a column [for instance, from Qiagen]. For blood, we have found that the PAX tube is good." Also available, come January 2007, is an Excel system called PREQXCEL, from Jack Gallup at Iowa State University. The system helps design reactions to minimize inhibition (Biol Proced Online, 8:87-152, 2006).

jperkel@the-scientist.com