Detection of base analogs incorporated during DNA replication by nanopore sequencing

DNA synthesis is a fundamental requirement for cell proliferation and DNA repair, but no single method can identify the location, direction and speed of replication forks with high resolution. Mammalian cells have the ability to incorporate thymidine analogs along with the natural A, T, G and C bases during DNA synthesis, which allows for labeling of replicating or repaired DNA. Here, we demonstrate the use of the Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION to detect 11 different thymidine analogs including CldU, BrdU, IdU as well as EdU alone or coupled to Biotin and other bulky adducts in synthetic DNA templates. We also show that the large adduct Biotin can be distinguished from the smaller analog IdU, which opens the possibility of using analog combinations to identify the location and direction of DNA synthesis. Furthermore, we detect IdU label on single DNA molecules in the genome of mouse pluripotent stem cells and using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated enrichment, determine replication rates using newly synthesized DNA strands in human mitochondrial DNA. We conclude that this novel method, termed Replipore sequencing, has the potential for on target examination of DNA replication in a wide range of biological contexts.

Synthesis and evaluation of (S)-5′-C-aminopropyl and (S)-5′-C-aminopropyl-2′-arabinofluoro modified DNA oligomers for novel RNase H-dependent antisense oligonucleotides

We designed and synthesized two novel thymidine analogs: (S)-5′-C-aminopropyl-thymidine and (S)-5′-C-aminopropyl-2′-β-fluoro-thymidine.

Detection of Base Analogs Incorporated During DNA Replication by Nanopore Sequencing

ABSTRACTDNA synthesis is a fundamental requirement for cell proliferation and DNA repair, but no tools exist to identify the location, direction and speed of replication forks with base pair resolution. Mammalian cells have the ability to incorporate thymidine analogs along with the natural A, T, G and C bases during DNA synthesis, which allows for labelling of replicating or repaired DNA. Most sequencing platforms rely on base-pairing to identify the four canonical nucleotides, and are thus unable to distinguish them from these analogs. In contrast, the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION infers nucleotide identity from changes in the ionic current as DNA strands are pulled through nanopores and can in principle differentiate noncanonical nucleotides from natural ones. Here, we demonstrate the use of the ONT MinION to detect 11 different thymidine analogs including CldU, BrdU, IdU, as well as, EdU alone or coupled to Biotin and other bulky adducts in synthetic DNA templates. We also show detection of IdU in the genome of mouse pluripotent stem cells. We find that different modifications generate variable shifts in ionic signals, providing a method of using analog combinations to identify the location and direction of DNA synthesis and repair at high resolution. We conclude that this novel method has the potential for single-base, genome-wide examination of DNA replication in stem cell differentiation or cell transformation.