Large-scale concatenation cDNA sequencing.

A total of 100 kb of DNA derived from 69 individual human brain cDNA clones of 0.7-2.0 kb were sequenced by concatenated cDNA sequencing (CCS), whereby multiple individual DNA fragments are sequenced simultaneously in a single shotgun library. The method yielded accurate sequences and a similar efficiency compared with other shotgun libraries constructed from single DNA fragments (> 20 kb). Computer analyses were carried out on 65 cDNA clone sequences and their corresponding end sequences to examine both nucleic acid and amino acid sequence similarities in the databases. Thirty-seven clones revealed no DNA database matches, 12 clones generated exact matches (> or = 98% identity), and 16 clones generated nonexact matches (57%-97% identity) to either known human or other species genes. Of those 28 matched clones, 8 had corresponding end sequences that failed to identify similarities. In a protein similarity search, 27 clone sequences displayed significant matches, whereas only 20 of the end sequences had matches to known protein sequences. Our data indicate that full-length cDNA insert sequences provide significantly more nucleic acid and protein sequence similarity matches than expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for database searching.

Simultaneous shotgun sequencing of multiple cDNA clones.

This study describes an efficient method for the rapid sequencing of DNA fragments in the size range 1-5 kb. Individual fragments, here cDNA inserts, are purified by restriction enzyme digestion and gel purification, pooled and concatenated by ligation. The concatamers are sheared and cloned randomly into M13, followed by random sequencing. The sequences of the individual cDNA inserts are obtained at the assembly stage using restriction enzyme sites as "tags' for the ends of each fragment. In this study the sequencing of two libraries containing 7 and 16 cDNA inserts with an average length of 2.5 kb is described. The results show that of the shotgun sequencing of large fragments, and that the method compares favorably to alternative strategies, such as primer walking.

A "double adaptor" method for improved shotgun library construction.

The efficiency of shotgun DNA sequencing depends to a great extent on the quality of the random-subclone libraries used. We here describe a novel "double adaptor" strategy for efficient construction of high-quality shotgun libraries. In this method, randomly sheared and end-repaired fragments are ligated to oligonucleotide adaptors creating 12-base overhangs. Nonphosphorylated oligonucleotides are used, which prevents formation of adaptor dimers and ensures efficient ligation of insert to adaptor. The vector is prepared from a modified M13 vector, by KpnI/PstI digestion followed by ligation to oligonucleotides with ends complementary to the overhangs created in the digest. These adaptors create 5'-overhangs complementary to those on the inserts. Following annealing of insert to vector, the DNA is directly used for transformation without a ligation step. This protocol is robust and shows three- to fivefold higher yield of clones compared to previous protocols. No chimeric clones can be detected and the background of clones without an insert is <1%. The procedure is rapid and shows potential for automation.

Adaptor-based uracil DNA glycosylase cloning simplifies shotgun library construction for large-scale sequencing.

An improved strategy for the preparation of libraries for the random sequencing of DNA is reported. The protocol is a modification of a previous adaptor-based strategy, and utilizes long (11 base) overhangs, which eliminates the unreliable step of vector-insert ligation. The random inserts are prepared by adaptor ligation, while the M13 vector is prepared as described for uracil DNA glycosylase (UDG) cloning of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products, using PCR with uracil-containing primers, followed by UDG treatment to produce overhangs. This method has been found to reliably yield large numbers of clones. There is no background due to religation of the vector, and all clones contain inserts. In addition, the method is simple and suitable for export to other investigators. Libraries were constructed from cosmids containing human DNA and from human cDNAs in order to characterize a strategy for shotgun sequencing of multiple shorter fragments.