Selective amplification of cDNA sequence from total RNA by cassette-ligation mediated polymerase chain reaction (PCR): Application to sequencing 6·5 kb genome segment of hantavirus strain B-1

A method, referred to as cassette-ligation mediated polymerase chain reaction (PCR), has been developed to permit selective and specific amplification of cDNA sequence from total cellular RNA. This technique comprises (i) digestion of cDNA with multiple restriction enzymes, (ii) ligation of cleavage products to double-stranded DNA cassettes possessing a corresponding restriction site and (iii) amplification of cassette-ligated restriction fragments containing a short, known sequence (but not all the other ligation products) by PCR using the specific and cassette primers; the specific primer is designed to prime synthesis from the known sequence of the cDNA whereas the cassette primer anneals to one strand of the cassette. Sequencing from the cassette primer provides information to design a new primer for the next walking step. The amplified cDNA fragments are often larger than the maximum DNA fragments (500–600 bp) that can be sequenced without the need of synthesizing internal sequencing primer. Each of such large cDNA fragments is dissected into smaller DNA fragments by repeating cassette-ligation mediated PCR exploiting different restriction sites and different sets of cassette primers. This dissection process reduces the number of specific primers to a minimum, thereby increasing the speed of sequencing and minimizing the overall cost. We have successfully applied this cDNA walking and sequencing by the cassette-ligation mediated PCR to the sequencing of an entire 6·5 kb genome segment of hantavirus strain B-1. The complete sequencing was achieved by four successive walking steps with 13 viral specific and three cassette primers, corresponding to more than 50% reduction in the number of primers necessary to sequence the cognate gene of other strains belonging to the same virus genus.