Virus Hunting: Discovery of New Episomal Circular Viruses by Rolling Circle Techniques.
Many methods for the discovery of novel viruses are based on amplification of the virus using consensus or degenerate PCR primers. A downside of this approach is that it requires prior knowledge of the viral nucleotide sequence to be applicable. Presented in this unit is a method for the sequence-independent amplification of circular viral genomes that is based on the rolling-circle mechanism used by certain viruses in their natural replication cycle. The amplification of the virus of interest is coupled to the isolation of the viral genome by gel extraction following a restriction digestion. Once isolated, the sequence of the viral genome can be determined by nanopore sequencing, a rapid and inexpensive next-generation sequencing technology that generates long reads in real time. The method described in this unit was originally developed for the discovery of papillomaviruses, but can be used for the identification of all types of circular DNA viruses. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, Rega Institute, Leuven, Belgium.
Bert
B
Vanmechelen
KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, Rega Institute, Leuven, Belgium.
Annabel
A
Rector
KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, Rega Institute, Leuven, Belgium.
Piet
P
Maes
D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004270:DNA, Circular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods*
D004270:DNA, Circular
nanopore sequencing; papillomavirus; rolling-circle amplification; virus identification