RNA Blot Analysis for the Detection and Quantification of Plant MicroRNAs

1. Preparation of a 15% denaturing polyacrylamide gel

1. Weigh and add 4.8 g of urea, add 3.75 mL of 40% acrylamide: bisacrylamide (19:1) solution and 1 mL of 10x TBE pH 8.2 into a sterile 50 mL tube.
2. Dissolve the urea using a water bath set at 60 °C into a clear solution.
3. Make-up the volume to 10 mL using freshly autoclaved sterile water and cool the gel mix to room temperature.
4. Prepare fresh 10% (w/v) ammonium persulfate solution.

2. Assembly of the glass plates and electrophoresis unit

1. Wash all the apparatus required for the gel electrophoresis and electro-blotting with detergent. Gently scrub them using a soft sponge to remove residual buffer and acrylamide, rinse with water and allow them to dry.
2. Assemble both the glass plates together and place them firmly on the sponge. Use a 1 mm thick plate for this setup. Make sure that the plates are at the same level to avoid leakage.
3. To the 10 mL gel mix, add 8 µL of TEMED and 80 µL of freshly prepared 10% (w/v) ammonium persulfate solution.
4. Without delay, gently mix and pour this in between the assembled glass plates. Place the comb carefully. Avoid generating air-bubbles in this step.
5. Allow the gel to polymerize for approximately 45 min.
6. Wash the polymerized gel with sterile water before placing inside the gel-running setup.
7. Assemble the plates inside the running cassette and remove the comb gently.
8. Pour freshly prepared sterile 1x TBE, pH 8.2 into the tank.
9. Wash the wells carefully by pipetting the buffer to remove salt crystals. This step helps the RNA sample to run uniformly across the gel.
10. Perform a pre-run at 80 V for 30 min.

3. Preparation of loading dye and samples

1. For 10 mL of gel loading dye, weigh 5 mg of bromophenol blue, 5 mg of xylene cyanol, add 10 mL of deionized formamide carefully and mix them well.
2. Aliquot 10 µg of total RNA into a sterile 1.5 mL tube and dry the samples using a speedvac. Do not over-dry the samples.
3. Resuspend the RNA samples in 8 µL of loading.
4. Heat the samples at 98 °C for 2 min, cool for 1 min at RT, vortex and spin the samples, for 3 times. This step is essential for proper resuspension and in turn this helps in equal loading of the samples.

4. Gel electrophoresis

1. Stop the pre-run and wash the wells before sample loading.
2. Heat the samples at 98 °C for 1 min and load the samples hot into the well using capillary tips. Insert the tip to the bottom of the well, so that sample occupies one thin layer in the well.
3. Complete loading of all the samples. Include to load RNA decade marker.
4. Run the gel at 80 V until the bromophenol blue dye runs almost completely. Bromophenol blue runs at 10 bp in a 15% denaturing acrylamide gel.

5. Preparation for electro-blotting

1. Cut the N+nylon membrane to the dimensions of glass plate and label the membrane at its top-right corner with a HB pencil.
2. Gently place the membrane on surface of sterile water, facing the labeled side towards water surface. Pre-soak the membrane for 15 min.
3. Cut 4 pieces of blotting paper I to the dimensions of fiber pad.
4. Prepare the gel sandwich for placing the gray side of the cassette down in a clean tray.
5. Pre-wet the fiber pad and place it over the cassette. Remove air bubbles.
6. Pre-wet one piece of blotting paper in 1x TBE and place over the fiber pad. Remove air bubbles by rolling a plastic pipette over the paper. Lay another piece of pre-wet blotting paper and remove air bubbles.
7. Carefully remove the gel from the running cassette and place it over the sandwich setup, such that the first loaded RNA sample is towards the right.
8. Gently dip the pre-soaked membrane in 1x TBE and place it over the gel, facing the labelled side down. Roll out to remove the air bubbles.
9. Dip a piece of blotting paper, lay it over the membrane, and remove the air bubbles. Dip another piece of blotting paper, place it over sandwich setup and remove air bubbles.
10. Complete the sandwich by placing a pre-wet fiber pad over the setup and firmly close the cassette.
11. Place the transblot cassette in the module and fill 1x TBE, pH 8.2 up to the blotting mark.
12. Transfer at 10 V, overnight at 4 °C.
13. After transfer, place the damp membrane on a paper sheet and immediately cross-link the RNA to the membrane by irradiation with 254-nm UV light (120,000 µjoules/cm²). The cross-linked blot maybe stored at 4 °C for further hybridization.

6. Preparation of radiolabeled probe

1. Design a probe that is completely complementary to the small RNA which is to be detected.
2. End label the probe using ƳP³²ATP (obtained from BRIT) at its 5’ end by combining the components as per recipe provided in Table 1.
3. Incubate the above reaction mixture at 37 °C for 30 min.
4. Separate un-labelled ƳP³²ATP from probe by using a Sephadex G-25 column according to manufacturer’s protocol.

7. Hybridization of the blot

1. Place the crossed-linked blot, RNA side facing top inside a hybridization bottle.
2. Vigorously mix the ultra-sensitive hybridization buffer, add 10 mL of it and incubate the blot inside a hybridization oven maintained at 35 °C, with rotation.
3. Perform pre-hybridization for 20 min.
4. Remove the bottle from the oven and add the labelled probe into the hybridization buffer gently.
5. Hybridize the blot at 35 °C, with rotation for 12 h.
6. After hybridization carefully transfer the hybridization solution into 15 mL tube. This solution can be stored at 4 °C until re-use.
7. Perform a quick wash of the blot for 2 min to remove excess hybridization solution by adding 2x SSC buffer plus 0.5% SDS. Discard the solution.
8. Incubate the blot with 2x SSC buffer plus 0.5% SDS for 35 °C, with rotation for 30 min.
9. Wash the blot again with 0.5x SSC buffer plus 0.5% SDS for 35°C, with rotation for 30 min.
10. Place the blot inside a hybridization cover, remove the excess buffer and seal it.
11. Expose it to a radiation free-phosphor imager screen overnight inside a cassette.
12. Detect the hybridization signal using biomolecular imager and analyze the results using suitable software.
13. Strip the blot by incubating it at 80 °C, with rotation for 30 min with 0.5 X SSC buffer plus 0.1% SDS and 0.1 X SSC buffer plus 0.1% SDS for 30 min.