A ONE-TUBE METHOD OF REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION-PCR TO EFFICIENTLY AMPLIFYA 3-KILOBASE REGION FROM THE RNA-POLYMERASE GENE TO THE POLY(A) TAIL OF SMALL ROUND-STRUCTURED VIRUSES (NORWALK-LIKE VIRUSES)

Amplification of a 3-kb genome region from the RNA polymerase gene to the 3' poly(A) tail of small round-structured virus (SRSV) by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) has been difficult to achieve because of a stable secondary structure in a region between the RNA polymerase gene and the 5' end of the second open reading frame. We have developed a one-tube RT-PCR method to efficiently amplify this region. The method comprises three procedures: purification of poly(A)(+) RNA from a star ting RNA solution by oligo(dT)(30) covalently linked to latex particle s, buffer exchange, and continuous RT and PCR in a single tube contain ing all reaction components. The key elements of this method are (i) f irst-strand cDNA synthesis with the Superscript II version of RNase H- Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase at 50 degrees C f or 10 min by using the RNA-oligo(dT)(30) hybrid on the latex particles as the template and primer, and (ii) PCR by Taq and Pwo DNA polymeras es mixed together with a mixture of 12 phased oligo(dT)(25) antisense primers. The detection threshold of the one-tube RT-PCR method was as little as 0.2 ng of the crude RNA used as the source of the template. Using this method, we obtained 3-kb products from 24 SRSV strains prev iously characterized into four genetic groups. These included 5 P1-A, 4 P1-B, 5 P2-A, and 10 P2-B strains. Because SRSVs have not yet been c ultivated in vitro, this novel method should facilitate molecular char acterization of SRSVs to provide a firm scientific foundation for impr ovements and refinements of SRSV diagnostics.