NuGEN expands NGS utility for microbial transcriptome analysis with Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System

Jan 27 2011

NuGEN Technologies, Inc., a leader in genomics sample preparation, expands the utility of next-generation sequencing (NGS) for the analysis of microbial species and microbiome samples with its Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System. The core technology used in this product enriches for mRNA in NGS libraries, and can be applied to transcriptomes extracted from pure and mixed microbial cultures in a simple workflow.

NuGEN is announcing a limited access program for the release of this product targeting medical and environmental microbial research centers. The first two sites receiving the Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System are Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Washington.

Dr. George Weinstock, leader of the Human Microbiome Project and Professor of Genetics and Microbiology at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as Associate Director of the Washington University Genome Center views NuGEN's technology as important for enabling RNA-Seq sample preparation with a broad range of bacterial species.

"Our group utilizes next-generation sequencing to characterize the structure and function of microbial genomes, and how microbes form communities to colonize the human body," Dr. Weinstock said. "The goal of our work is to analyze the genomes of these organisms to understand which genes are expressed under different conditions and to measure how communities change in different health and disease states. Functional analysis is as important as enumerating taxa or genes in this analysis, but identifying which genes are expressed, especially with complex communities, is very challenging. We required an RNA-Seq sample preparation system to allow use of nanogram amounts of starting total RNA which could significantly enrich for the mRNA portion of bacterial transcriptomes. In pilot studies done with NuGEN, I was impressed by the performance of the Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System in terms of the total RNA input requirements, reproducibility, and the overall simplicity of the workflow."

Dr. Caroline Harwood is a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Washington, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Her group has used a prototype version of the Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System to investigate gene expression in environmental microbes.

"We have used Rhodopseudomonas palustris as a model system to understand how bacteria respond to environmental signals, form biofilms, and in the case of R. palustris can be engineered for efficient production of hydrogen gas," Dr. Harwood said. "Our work involves sequencing the transcriptomes of hundreds of different bacterial strains so we need an efficient and cost-effective means to prepare libraries with minimal input of total RNA. We are excited to work with the NuGEN team on this project and plan to submit the initial findings of our work for publication in the next several weeks."

The Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System demonstrates NuGEN's efforts to continue to address critical bottlenecks in NGS sample preparation. "Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System will drive further expansion of NGS in the emerging area of metatranscriptomics," said Dr. Christopher Raymond, NuGEN Sr. Research Fellow. "This important addition to the NuGEN product portfolio for NGS reaffirms our commitment to help solve the biological questions our customers continually strive to answer by studying new and challenging sample types."