Protocol for FastTrack 2.0 mRNA Extraction Human Cells

Preparation of Cells

Prepare or collect between 2x10⁷ cells for each mRNA prep （will yield about 10-20μg of mRNA）. If PBMCs from a whole blood sample are to be used, the sample should be prepared with Ficoll-Paque according to the manufacturer's protocol. The isolated PBMCs can then be used in this protocol.

If cells are adherent, gently agitate and scrape cells from the surface of the flask with a cell scraper to suspend in the media. If cells are non-adherent, proceed to next step.

Place the suspension of cells in a 50ml conical tube, pellet at ~400xg for 5 minutes.

Discard the supernatant, leave the pellet intact.

Freeze the pellet in a dry ice/ethanol bath （or on liquid N2） until solid.

Store at -70oC until ready for mRNA preparation.

Modified FastTrack 2.0 Protocol

Isolation of mRNA

Add 15ml of Lysis Buffer （15ml Stock Buffer 300 ul RNase/Protein Degrader） to the frozen pellet.

The tissue homogenizer should be cleaned so that it is RNase-free. At a minimum will require immersion and homogenization in ddH₂O and ethanol 3 times sequentially, may require boiling H₂O, SDS, or 10% bleach in addition. An RNAse degrader such as RNAse Zap can also be used.

Shear each sample with a 3-5 second run of the tissue homogenizer, essentially until the cell pellet is no longer visible. Clean homogenizer tip between runs.

Incubate the sheared samples in Lysis Buffer at 45oC for 45 minutes.

Add 950 μl 5M NaCl stock solution and mix.

Shear DNA using a 21 gauge needle attached to a sterile 20cc syringe. This step involves drawing the lysate into the syringe through the needle and expelling it from the syringe, again through the needle. This step should be repeated 3 times.

Add one tube of oligo（dT） cellulose to each sample.

Incubate for 2 minutes at room temperature. Vortex the sample to resuspend the cellulose completely.

Rock the tube gently in a horizontal position for 60-90 minutes at room temperature.

Centrifuge the oligo（dT） slurry at 3,000 x g for 5 minutes at room temperature. Make sure the brake on the centrifuge is set at low for all centrifugation steps, as a high brake may disturb the pellet.

Carefully aspirate and discard the supernatant, trying not to disturb the easily dispersed pellet.

Washing Oligo（dT） Cellulose

Resuspend oligo（dT） in 20ml Binding Buffer by vortexing.

Centrifuge at 3,000 x g for 5 minutes at room temperature.

Resuspend oligo（dT） in 10ml Binding Buffer by vortexing.

Centrifuge at 3,000 x g for 5 minutes at room temperature.

Resuspend oligo（dT） in 10ml Low Salt Wash Buffer by vortexing.