A comparison of mitochondrial DNA isolation methods in frozen post-mortem human brain tissue—applications for studies of mitochondrial genetics in brain disorders

Matthew Devall; Joe Burrage; Richard Caswell; Matthew Johnson; Claire Troakes; Safa Al-Sarraj; Aaron R. Jeffries; Jonathan Mill; Katie Lunnon

doi:10.2144/000114343

A comparison of mitochondrial DNA isolation methods in frozen post-mortem human brain tissue—applications for studies of mitochondrial genetics in brain disorders

Matthew Devall, Joe Burrage, Richard Caswell, Matthew Johnson, Claire Troakes, Safa Al-Sarraj, Aaron R. Jeffries, Jonathan Mill, Katie Lunnon^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Given that many brain disorders are characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction, there is a growing interest in investigating genetic and epigenetic variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). One major caveat for such studies is the presence of nuclear-mitochondrial pseudogenes (NUMTs), which are regions of the mitochondrial genome that have been inserted into the nuclear genome over evolution and, if not accounted for, can confound genetic studies of mtDNA. Here we provide the first systematic comparison of methods for isolating mtDNA from frozen post-mortem human brain tissue. Our data show that a commercial method from Miltenyi Biotec, which magnetically isolates mitochondria using antibodies raised against the mitochondrial import receptor subunit TOM22, gives significant mtDNA enrichment and should be considered the method of choice for mtDNA studies in frozen brain tissue.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	241-247
Number of pages	7
Journal	Biotechniques
Volume	59
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2144/000114343
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 7 Dec 2015

Keywords

Brain
DNA
Epigenetics
Genetics
Isolation
Mitochondria
MtDNA
Post-mortem

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10.2144/000114343

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Devall, M., Burrage, J., Caswell, R., Johnson, M., Troakes, C., Al-Sarraj, S., Jeffries, A. R., Mill, J., & Lunnon, K. (2015). A comparison of mitochondrial DNA isolation methods in frozen post-mortem human brain tissue—applications for studies of mitochondrial genetics in brain disorders. Biotechniques, 59(4), 241-247. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.2144/000114343

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AU - Troakes, Claire

AU - Al-Sarraj, Safa

AU - Jeffries, Aaron R.

AU - Mill, Jonathan

AU - Lunnon, Katie

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A comparison of mitochondrial DNA isolation methods in frozen post-mortem human brain tissue—applications for studies of mitochondrial genetics in brain disorders

Abstract

Keywords

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