RNA Purification from Intracellularly Grown Listeria monocytogenes in Macrophage Cells

Summary

Here we describe a method for bacterial RNA isolation from Listeria monocytogenes bacteria growing inside murine macrophages. This technique can be used with other intracellular pathogens and mammalian host cells.

Abstract

Analysis of the transcriptome of bacterial pathogens during mammalian infection is a valuable tool for studying genes and factors that mediate infection. However, isolating bacterial RNA from infected cells or tissues is a challenging task, since mammalian RNA mostly dominates the lysates of infected cells. Here we describe an optimized method for RNA isolation of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria growing within bone marrow derived macrophage cells. Upon infection, cells are mildly lysed and rapidly filtered to discard most of the host proteins and RNA, while retaining intact bacteria. Next, bacterial RNA is isolated using hot phenol-SDS extraction followed by DNase treatment. The extracted RNA is suitable for gene transcription analysis by multiple techniques. This method is successfully employed in our studies of Listeria monocytogenes gene regulation during infection of macrophage cells ^1-4. The protocol can be easily modified to study other bacterial pathogens and cell types.

Introduction

Intracellular bacterial pathogens ─ bacteria causing infectious diseases and capable of growing and reproducing inside cells of human hosts ─ are a major health concern worldwide⁵. To invade and replicate within a mammalian cell, intracellular pathogens have acquired sophisticated virulence mechanisms and factors. While these mechanisms are fundamental to the ability to cause a disease, we know little about their regulation and dynamics. Since gene expression profiles of bacteria grown in liquid media do not reflect the actual environment within host cells, there is a growing need for transcriptome analyses of bacteria grown in their intracellul....

Protocol

Note: During the entire experiment, macrophage cells are incubated at 37 °C in a 5% CO₂ forced-air incubator and taken out of the incubator only for experimental manipulations, which are performed in a Class II biological safety cabinet. Working with L. monocytogenes bacteria is according to biological safety level 2 regulations.

1. Cell Preparation and Bacterial Infection (Day 1 and 2)

1. Day 1
   1. Seed 2.0 x 10⁷ bone marrow derived macrophage cells (BMDM) on a 145 mm dish in 30 ml BMDM + Pen-Strep media (Table 2). Seed 3 plates for each bacterial strain to be analyzed. Incubate overnight at....

Results

The model system is shown in Figure 1 and includes macrophage cells infected with L. monocytogenes bacteria, which replicate in the macrophage cytosol. Figure 2 represents the experimental scheme. Figure 3 represents typical results of such RT-qPCR analysis of virulence genes during WT L. monocytogenes growth in macrophages in comparison to growth in rich laboratory medium BHI. The results show the transcription levels o.......

Discussion

The protocol described here represents an optimized method for isolation of bacterial RNA from L. monocytogenes bacteria growing intracellularly in macrophage cells. This protocol is based on cell differential lysis and includes two major steps for enrichment of bacterial RNA: macrophage nuclei sedimentation using centrifugation and a rapid collection of bacteria by filtration. These steps are followed by a standard RNA extraction procedure. While this protocol describes purification of listerial RNA, it can be .......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Listeria monocytogenes 10403S			20
Bone marrow derived macrophages prepared from C57B/6 female mice			21
H2O, RNAse free	Thermo Scientific	10977-015	DEPC-treated water can be used
DMEM	Gibco	41965039
Glutamine	Gibco	25030081
Sodium pyruvate	Gibco	11360-088
β-Mercaptoethanol	Gibco	31350010
Pen/Strep	Gibco	15140-122
Gentamicin	Sigma-Aldrich	G1397
FBS	Gibco	10270106
Dulbecco’s Phosphate Buffered Saline-PBS	Sigma-Aldrich	D8537
Brain heart infusion (BHI)	Merckmillipore	1104930500
Phenol saturated pH 4.3	Fisher	BP1751I-400
Chloroform	Fisher	BP1145-1
Iso-amyl alcohol	Sigma-Aldrich	W205702
Sodium acetate	Sigma-Aldrich	W302406
EDTA	Sigma-Aldrich	EDS
DNaseI	Fermentas	EN0521
SDS 10%	Sigma-Aldrich	L4522
Ethanol absolute	Merck Millipore	1070174000
37 °C, 5% CO2 forced-air incubator	Thermo Scientific	Model 3111
Cell scrapers	Nunc	179693
Kontes glass holder for 45 mm filters	Fisher	K953755-0045
MF-Millipore filters 45 mm, 0.45 µm	Merck Millipore	HAWP04700
SpeedVac system	Thermo Scientific	SPD131DDA
Vortex-Genie 2	Scientific Industries	Model G560E
NanoDrop	Thermo Scientific
145 mm cell culture dishes	Greiner	639 160
1.7 ml tubes, RNase-free	Axygen	MCT-175-C
30 °C incubator	Thermo Scientific
65 °C heat block	Thermo Scientific
4 °C table centrifuge	Eppendorf	5417R
Sterile pipettes, 25 ml	Greiner
Falcon tubes, 50 ml	Greiner
Liquid nitrogen