A rapid method for gene expression analysis of Borna disease virus in neurons and astrocytes using laser microdissection and real-time RT-PCR.
Laser microdissection combined with real-time RT-PCR represents a powerful method to analyse the transcription efficiency of defined cell types. Therefore, a RNA-preserving immunolabelling method was established to identify neurons and astrocytes in persistently BDV-infected rat brain sections for subsequent laser microdissection and quantitation of viral gene products by real-time RT-PCR. Firstly, to ensure an accurate measurement of viral RNA after immunolabelling, different reference genes (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase [GAPDH], succinate-ubiquinone reductase [SDHA], hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl-transferase-1 [HPRT]) were tested. Only normalisation with GAPDH yielded a stable relative expression of viral RNA encoding the nucleoprotein (BDV-N), the matrixprotein and the glycoprotein (intron I and intron II). The two remaining reference genes biased the ratios of BDV-transcripts in the immunolabelled brain sections significantly. Secondly, 100 immunolabelled neurons and astrocytes were harvested using laser microdissection and amplification of all viral transcripts revealed 681 and 168 (BDV-N), 573 and 254 (intron I), 324 and 133 (intron II) and 161 and 36 (GAPDH) absolute copy numbers in neurons and astrocytes, respectively. Thus, laser microdissection combined with real-time RT-PCR provides an effective tool for the analysis of cell-specific viral transcription efficiency and allows elucidating virus-host-interactions and virus persistence mechanisms in the CNS.
Department of Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Bünteweg 17, D-30559 Hannover, Germany. doris.porombka@tiho-hannover.de <doris.porombka@tiho-hannover.de>
Doris
D
Porombka
Wolfgang
W
Baumgärtner
Christiane
C
Herden
D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000821:virology*; D001890:Borna Disease / Q000821:virology; D001891:Borna disease virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D001921:Brain / Q000821:virology; D018628:Gene Dosage; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D042282:Microdissection / Q000379:methods*; D009474:Neurons / Q000821:virology*; D051381:Rats; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*