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DNA Thermo-Protection Facilitates Whole Genome Sequencing of Mycobacteria Direct from Clinical Samples

George, S; Xu, Y; Rodger, G; Morgan, M; Sanderson, N; Hoosdally, SJ; Thulborn, S; ... Dingle, K; + view all (2020) DNA Thermo-Protection Facilitates Whole Genome Sequencing of Mycobacteria Direct from Clinical Samples. Journal of Clinical Microbiology , 58 , Article e00670-20. 10.1128/JCM.00670-20. Green open access

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Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the leading cause of death from bacterial infection. Improved rapid diagnosis and antimicrobial resistance determination, such as by whole-genome sequencing, are required. Our aim was to develop a simple, low-cost method of preparing DNA for sequencing direct from M. tuberculosis-positive clinical samples (without culture). Simultaneous sputum liquefaction, bacteria heat inactivation (99°C/30 min), and enrichment for mycobacteria DNA were achieved using an equal volume of thermo-protection buffer (4 M KCl, 0.05 M HEPES buffer, pH 7.5, 0.1% dithiothreitol [DTT]). The buffer emulated intracellular conditions found in hyperthermophiles, thus protecting DNA from rapid thermodegradation, which renders it a poor template for sequencing. Initial validation experiments employed mycobacteria DNA, either extracted or intracellular. Next, mock clinical samples (infection-negative human sputum spiked with 0 to 105 Mycobacterium bovis BCG cells/ml) underwent liquefaction in thermo-protection buffer and heat inactivation. DNA was extracted and sequenced. Human DNA degraded faster than mycobacteria DNA, resulting in target enrichment. Four replicate experiments achieved M. tuberculosis detection at 101 BCG cells/ml, with 31 to 59 M. tuberculosis complex reads. Maximal genome coverage (>97% at 5× depth) occurred at 104 BCG cells/ml; >91% coverage (1× depth) occurred at 103 BCG cells/ml. Final validation employed M. tuberculosis-positive clinical samples (n = 20), revealing that initial sample volumes of ≥1 ml typically yielded higher mean depths of M. tuberculosis genome coverage, with an overall range of 0.55 to 81.02. A mean depth of 3 gave >96% 1-fold tuberculosis (TB) genome coverage (in 15/20 clinical samples). A mean depth of 15 achieved >99% 5-fold genome coverage (in 9/20 clinical samples). In summary, direct-from-sample sequencing of M. tuberculosis genomes was facilitated by a low-cost thermo-protection buffer.

Type: Article
Title: DNA Thermo-Protection Facilitates Whole Genome Sequencing of Mycobacteria Direct from Clinical Samples
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1128/JCM.00670-20
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.00670-20
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2020 George et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology > MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10105621
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