Quantitative Evaluation of Very Low Levels of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase by a Novel Highly Sensitive RT-qPCR Assay.
LIFE (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022;
12:life12081130. [PMID:
36013309 PMCID:
PMC9410348 DOI:
10.3390/life12081130]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Based on previous experience in our laboratory, we developed a real-time reverse transcriptase (RT) quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assay for the assessment of very low levels of HIV-1 RT activity. The RNA, acting as a template for reverse transcription into cDNA by HIV-1 RT, consisted of a synthetic RNA ad hoc generated by in vitro transcription and included a coding sequence for HSV-1 gD (gD-RNA-synt). Different conditions of variables involved in the RT-qPCR reaction, notably different amounts of gD-RNA-synt, different mixes of the reaction buffer, and different dNTP concentrations, were tested to optimize the assay. The results indicated that the gD-RNA-synt-based RT assay, in its optimized formulation, could detect a specific cDNA reverse transcription even in the presence of 1 × 10-9 U of HIV RT. This achievement greatly improved the sensitivity of the assay over previous versions. In summary, this constructed RT-qPCR assay may be considered a promising tool for providing accurate information on very low HIV-1 RT activity.
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