ATAC-seq Assay with Low Mitochondrial DNA Contamination from Primary Human CD4+ T Lymphocytes

Summary

Here, we present a protocol to perform an assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq) on activated CD4+ human lymphocytes. The protocol has been modified to minimize contaminating mitochondrial DNA reads from 50% to 3% through the introduction of a new lysis buffer.

Abstract

ATAC-seq has become a widely used methodology in the study of epigenetics due to its rapid and simple approach to mapping genome-wide accessible chromatin. In this paper we present an improved ATAC-seq protocol that reduces contaminating mitochondrial DNA reads. While previous ATAC-seq protocols have struggled with an average of 50% contaminating mitochondrial DNA reads, the optimized lysis buffer introduced in this protocol reduces mitochondrial DNA contamination to an average of 3%. This improved ATAC-seq protocol allows for a near 50% reduction in the sequencing cost. We demonstrate how these high-quality ATAC-seq libraries can be prepared from activated CD4+ lymphocytes, providing step-by-step instructions from CD4+ lymphocyte isolation from whole blood through data analysis. This improved ATAC-seq protocol has been validated in a wide range of cell types and will be of immediate use to researchers studying chromatin accessibility.

Introduction

The assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq) has rapidly become the leading method for interrogating chromatin architecture. ATAC-seq can identify regions of accessible chromatin through the process of tagmentation, the fragmenting and tagging of DNA by the same enzyme, to produce libraries with which sequencing can determine chromatin accessibility across an entire genome. This tagmentation process is mediated by the hyperactive Tn5 transposase, which only cuts open regions of chromatin due to nucleosomic steric hindrance. As it cuts, the Tn5 transposase also inserts sequencing adapters that allow for rapid library construction by PCR and next....

Protocol

This improved protocol provides step-by-step instructions for performing ATAC-seq of CD4+ lymphocytes, from the starting material of whole blood through data analysis (Figure 1).

1. Isolation of CD4+ T Cells from Whole Blood

NOTE: The starting material for this protocol is 15 mL of fresh whole blood collected using standard procedures, allowing the source of the starting material to be selected based on research requirements. Scale the protocol as needed. Pre-warm phosphate buffered saline (PBS) + 2% fetal calf serum (FCS) to room temperature (RT) and adjust the centri....

Results

From 15 mL of fresh whole blood, this protocol generates an average of 1 million CD4+ T cells. These can be frozen for later processing or used immediately. Viability of the CD4+ T cells, fresh or thawed, was consistently >95%. This method of CD4+ T cell isolation allows for flexibility in source material and collection time. This improved ATAC-seq protocol produces a final library of greater than 1 ng/µL for sequencing. Quality control performed using commercially available systems sh.......

Discussion

The modified ATAC-seq protocol presented in this article provides reproducible results with minimal mitochondrial DNA contamination. The protocol has been used to successfully characterize chromatin architecture of human primary PBMCs¹⁰, human monocytes, mouse dendritic cells (unpublished), and cultured melanoma cell lines¹¹. We anticipate this improved lysis condition has the potential to work for other cell types as well. It is also anticipated that this nuclei isolation .......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
1x PBS, Sterile	Gibco	10010023	Can use other comparable products.
5810/5810 R Swing Bucket Refrigerated Centrifuge with 50 mL, 15 mL, and 1.5 mL Tube Buckets	Eppendorf	22625501	Can use other comparable products.
96 Well Round Bottom Plate	Thermo Scientific	163320	Can use other comparable products.
Agilent 4200 Tape Station System	Agilent	G2991AA	Suggested for quality assessment.
Cryotubes	Thermo Scientific	374081	Can use other comparable products.
DMSO	Sigma	D8418	Can use other comparable products.
Dynabeads Human T-Activator CD3/CD28	Invitrogen Life Technologies	11131D	Critical Component
Dynabeads Untouched Human CD4 T Cells Kit	Invitrogen Life Technologies	11346D	Critical Component
Dynamagnet	Invitrogen Life Technologies	12321D	Critical Component
FCS	Gemini Bio Products	100-500	Can use other comparable products.
High Sensitivity DNA Kit	Agilent	50674626	Suggested for quality assessment.
Magnesium Chloride, Hexahydrate, Molecular Biology Grade	Sigma	M2393	Can use other comparable products.
MinElute PCR Purification Kit (Buffer PB, Buffer PE, Elution Buffer)	Qiagen	28004	Critical Component
Mr. Frosty	Thermo Scientific	5100-0001	Can use other comparable products.
NaCl, Molecular Biology Grade	Sigma	S3014	Can use other comparable products.
NEBNext High Fidelity 2x PCR Master Mix	New England BioLabs	M0541	Critical Component
Nextera DNA Library Preparation Kit (2x TD Buffer, Tn5 Enzyme)	Illumina	FC1211030	Critical Component
Nuclease Free Sterile dH20	Gibco	10977015	Can use other comparable products.
Polysorbate 20 (Tween20)	Sigma	P9416	Can use other comparable products.
PowerUp SYBR Green Master Mix	Applied Biosystems	A25780	Critical Component
Precision Water Bath	Thermo Scientific	TSGP02	Can use other comparable products.
QIAquick PCR Purification Kit	Qiagen	28104	Critical Component
Qubit dsDNA HS Assay Kit	Invitrogen Life Technologies	Q32851	Suggested for quality assessment.
Qubit FlouroMeter	Invitrogen Life Technologies	Q33226	Suggested for quality assessment.
Rosette Sep Human CD4+ Density Medium	Stem Cell Technologies	15705	Critical Component
Rosette Sep Human CD4+ Enrichment Cocktail	Stem Cell Technologies	15022	Critical Component
RPMI-1640	Gibco	11875093	Can use other comparable products.
Sterile Resevoir	Thermo Scientific	8096-11	Can use other comparable products.
T100 Thermocycler with Heated Lid	BioRad	1861096	Can use other comparable products.
Tris-HCL	Sigma	T5941	Can use other comparable products.