Protocol for lentiviral knock down in mouse ES cells

doi:10.1038/protex.2013.036

Method Article

Protocol for lentiviral knock down in mouse ES cells

https://doi.org/10.1038/protex.2013.036

This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 License

This protocol has been posted on Protocol Exchange, an open repository of community-contributed protocols sponsored by Nature Portfolio. These protocols are posted directly on the Protocol Exchange by authors and are made freely available to the scientific community for use and comment.

Version 1

posted 26 Mar, 2013

You are reading this latest protocol version

This protocol describes the procedure for lentiviral-mediated knock down of transcription factors like TFIID in mouse embryonic stem cells, and how this can be used to test for factors that are required to maintain the pluripotent state.

Biochemistry

Cell biology

Biological techniques

mouse embryonic stem cells

lentiviral knock down

TFIID

Note

It is important to carefully check the integrity of the shRNA-pLKO DNA for each DNA preparation by restriction enzyme digestion. The reason is that the short hairpin sequence is easily removed from the plasmid by recombination during propagation in DH5alpha cells. Recombination may be avoided by using fresh antibiotics and a limited number of bacterial cell divisions.

Day 1

morning: plate Cos-7 cells in Cos-7 medium at ~40% confluency on 10 cm dishes. 1 dish per transfection. Make sure cells are distributed evenly over the plate.

Afternoon: transfect plated Cos-7 cells as follows:

• Tube 1: Mix 300 ul DMEM low glucose (Lonza) with 24 μl Fugene 6 by flicking. Incubate 5 min at RT

• Tube 2: Mix the following plasmids:

o 2 μg pRSV-rev

o 2 μg pMDLg/pRRE

o 2 μg pMD2.G

o 2 μg pLKO-short hairpin construct

• add contents of Tube 1 to Tube 2, mix by flicking, incubate 20-30 min at RT.

• Add mixture to Cos-7 cells.

Day 2

replace the medium of the transfected Cos-7 cells with 10 ml ES medium/10 cm dish.

Plate IB10 ES cells on gelatinized dishes at 4.4 x 10e4 cells/10 cm dish

Day 3

collect viral supernatant from Cos-7 cells using a syringe and filter through 0.45 μm low protein binding filter (to remove cells). Add fresh ES medium to the Cos-7 cells.

Remove the medium from the IB10 cells

Supplement the viral supernatant with 8 μg /ml final concentration polybrene, mix, and add to the IB10 cells. 10 ml undiluted viral supernatant is used to infect 1 x 10 cm dish of IB10 cells.

Day 4

repeat the infection as described for day 3. Add fresh ES medium to the Cos-7 cells.

Day 5

Optional: repeat the infection once more as described for day 3. Discard the Cos-7 cells.

1-2 days after the last infection:

From this point, refresh the medium of the infected IB10 cells every day with ES medium containing 1.8 μg /ml puromycin.

Note: it is important to asses the condition of the IB10 cells. They should have clearly grown compared to the day of plating (day 2), and have formed small colonies. If this is not the case 24 hr after the last infection, it is better to wait an additional day before starting the puromycin selection.

Day 11

analyze the cells for alkaline phosphatase colony staining or RT-qPCR to determine knock down efficiency.

Medium composition:

Cos-7 medium

500 ml DMEM low glucose (Lonza BE12-707F)

55 ml FBS (Hyclone cat SV30160.03)

5 ml Penicillin/Streptomycin (Lonza cat 17-603E)

5 ml glutamine (Lonza cat 17-605E)

ES cell medium

500 ml DMEM high glucose (Lonza BE 12-604F)

90 ml FBS (Hyclone cat SV30160.03)

6 ml Penicillin/Streptomycin (Lonza cat 17-603E)

6 ml Glutamine (Lonza cat 17-605E)

6 ml sodium pyruvate (Lonza BE 13-115E)

6 ml beta-mercaptoethanol (stock: 70 ul of beta mercapotethanol (Sigma M-6250) in 100 ml H2O, aliquot and store -20C)

6 ml non essential amino acids (lonza 13-114E)

60 ul LIF (500 U/ml final) (Gibco 13275-029)

11 days

Knock down efficiencies range between 50-80% and should be checked by RT-qPCR analysis. Puromycin selection will ensure a continued knock down of the target mRNA. Knock down of many TFIID subunits in mouse ES cells will result in colonies with a differentiated morphology and with reduced alkaline phosphatase staining.

Pijnappel WW, Esch D, Baltissen MP, Wu G, Mischerikow N, Bergsma AJ, van der Wal E, Han DW, Bruch HV, Moritz S, Lijnzaad P, Altelaar AF, Sameith K, Zaehres H, Heck AJ, Holstege FC, Schöler HR, Timmers HT. A central role for TFIID in the pluripotent transcription circuitry. Nature. 2013 Mar 17. doi: 10.1038/nature11970. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 23503660 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

We thank M. de Bruijn and O. Kranenburg for advice on lentiviral knockdown experiments

none

PDF

Version 1

posted 26 Mar, 2013

You are reading this latest protocol version

Protocol for lentiviral knock down in mouse ES cells

Status:

Version 1

Abstract

Procedure

Timing

Anticipated Results

References

Acknowledgements

Competing Interests

Associated Publications

Status:

Version 1

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service