Performance evaluation of the PROCLEIX West Nile virus assay on semi-automated and automated systems.

The PROCLEIX West Nile virus assay (WNV assay) is a qualitative nucleic acid test based on transcription-mediated amplification (TMA). The assay was used under an investigational protocol in the United States to screen blood donations for West Nile virus (WNV) RNA starting in the summer of 2003, and was licensed by the FDA in December 2005 for use on the PROCLEIX System, also known as the enhanced semi-automated system (eSAS). Performance characteristics for the assay were determined on both eSAS and the fully automated PROCLEIX TIGRIS (TIGRIS) System. Detection of both lineage 1 and lineage 2 WNV was demonstrated on both systems. For lineage 1, the 95% detection limit was 8.2 copies/ml for eSAS and 9.8 copies/ml for the TIGRIS system. For lineage 2, > or =95% detection was seen at > or =30 copies/ml on both systems. The overall specificity of the assay was >99.9% in fresh and frozen plasma specimens. Reproducibility studies on the TIGRIS system yielded > or =99.1% agreement with expected results for the 3-member panel tested (0, 30, and 100 copies/ml). The WNV assay exhibited robust performance in cadaveric specimens and specimens representing various donor and donation conditions, including specimens from different plasma collection tubes that were subjected to multiple freeze/thaw cycles; specimens with elevated levels of endogenous substances; specimens containing other viruses and microorganisms; and specimens from patients with autoimmune and other diseases. Overall, these studies demonstrate high sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of the WNV assay on both the semi-automated and automated systems.

An RNA ligase-mediated method for the efficient creation of large, synthetic RNAs.

RNA ligation has been a powerful tool for incorporation of cross-linkers and nonnatural nucleotides into internal positions of RNA molecules. The most widely used method for template-directed RNA ligation uses DNA ligase and a DNA splint. While this method has been used successfully for many years, it suffers from a number of drawbacks, principally, slow and inefficient product formation and slow product release, resulting in a requirement for large quantities of enzyme. We describe an alternative technique catalyzed by T4 RNA ligase instead of DNA ligase. Using a splint design that allows the ligation junction to mimic the natural substrate of RNA ligase, we demonstrate several ligation reactions that appear to go nearly to completion. Furthermore, the reactions generally go to completion within 30 min. We present data evaluating the relative importance of various parameters in this reaction. Finally, we show the utility of this method by generating a 128-nucleotide pre-mRNA from three synthetic oligoribonucleotides. The ability to ligate synthetic or in vitro transcribed RNA with high efficiency has the potential to open up areas of RNA biology to new functional and biophysical investigation. In particular, we anticipate that site-specific incorporation of fluorescent dyes into large RNA molecules will yield a wealth of new information on RNA structure and function.