Introduction

Conditional gene knockout is a powerful tool for studying temporal and/or cell-type specific gene function. The Knockout Mouse Project (KOMP) Repository provides a comprehensive library of germline competent C57BL/6N embryonic stem (ES) cell clones encoding over 8,500 conditional gene-targeting constructs [1]. This has significantly increased the availability of mouse models and offered a standardized system for conducting loss-of-function studies.

The ES cells available through the KOMP Repository are derived from a high throughput gene targeting strategy [1] that utilizes a knockout-first construct design [2] with conditional potential (KO^1st). The construct (illustrated in Fig 1A) encodes a mouse En2 splice acceptor site, followed by an internal ribosome entry site (IRES), which precedes and promotes splicing to a lacZ insertion. This is followed by an SV40 polyadenylation sequence, which promotes termination of transcription (Fig 1A). These elements, together with a neomycin (neo) selection cassette, are incorporated into an intron upstream of a critical gene region and this approach has been successfully demonstrated to generate null alleles in mice [3, 4]. By crossing KO^1st homozygotes with mice expressing flippase it is possible to excise all elements flanked by the two flippase recognition target (FRT) sites. This reverts the mouse to a wild-type (Wt) state, but maintains conditional potential by preserving two loci of X-over P1 (loxP) sites flanking a critical gene region. Subsequent crossing with mice conditionally expressing Cre recombinase permits excision of the target sequence, which will again generate a null allele. Notably, while the Cre/loxP system of genetic engineering has been in use since the late eighties, its success as a conditional gene knock-out tool has lead to its integration into the design of model organisms derived using the revolutionary CRISPR/Cas9 technology [5].

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Fig 1. Genotyping Exoc3l2^{tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi} KO^1st chimeras with construct-specific primers.

A. The Exoc3l2^{tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi} KO^1st construct with conditional potential. The targeted exon is flanked by a loxP (loxP2) and a synthetic loxP3 site. The final blue box represents the terminal exon of the Exoc3l2 gene encoded by the construct. B. Combining primers designed to target loxP2 (F^loxP2) and the target exon (R^Target) was predicted to amplify a PCR product of 637 bp. The primer F^loxP3 targeted the synthetic loxP3 region and in combination with the R^Flank1 primer it was predicted to produce a 136 bp product from KO^1st templates. The F^Target and R^Target primers amplify a sequence of 105 bp from the targeted exon, common to all samples. C. PCR using the F^loxP2 and R^Target primers confirmed the KO^1st genotype in DNA samples extracted from KO^1st chimera biopsies and amplified no product in samples extracted from Wt biopsies. D. PCR using the F^loxP3 and R^Flank1 primers with KO^1st and Wt biopsies also produced a PCR product close to the predicted size in KO^1st chimera samples and no product in Wt samples. PCR with F^Target and R^Target primers amplified a product close to the predicted size in all samples. E. Sanger sequencing of the PCR products from C. confirmed the KO^1st specific identity of the amplified product. F. Sanger sequencing of the 136 bp PCR product amplified using the F^loxP3 and R^Flank1 primers confirmed the correct position of the junction between the synthetic loxP3 sequence and the Wt sequence. Black dots were placed under bases of low quality, but the specific base peaks at these positions were identical to those predicted for this sequence. PCR was performed with an annealing temperature of 56°C and products were separated on 1% agarose gels containing GelRed stain. Each of the two KO^1st lanes in C and D represent PCR products derived from two distinct KO^1st chimeric mice. Abbreviations: B2: B2 Gateway (Gateway cloning strategy element) | CR: Critical region of Exoc3l2 (identified by KOMP) | En2/SA: Engrailed-2/Splice acceptor | IRES: Internal ribosome entry site | lacZ: Lactose operon Z (β-galactosidase gene) | pA: SV40 polyadenylation site | P: Human beta actin promoter | neo: Neomycin resistance gene | KO^1st: Knockout first chimera.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165012.g001

An essential component of maintaining a colony of transgenic models is a reliable genotyping strategy. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers designed to selectively amplify products specific to the transgenic construct will distinguish KO^1st from Wt animals. However, additional reactions would be necessary to distinguish heterozygotes from homozygotes. Alternatively, zygosity can be determined using a single pair of primers designed to target Wt sequences that flank transgenic elements. This approach will produce products of two different lengths, depending on whether the DNA is amplified from Wt or KO^1st templates. Given that these products will have different mobility in agarose gel a heterozygote animal would be positive for both products, while Wt or homozygotes would be positive for single products of differing lengths. This approach is not always feasible given the specific design of certain transgenic constructs, but when possible it is a straightforward and informative method of genotyping.

The ability of nucleotide sequences to form secondary structures has been reported as a potential confounder of PCR [6]. Intrastrand base pairing can introduce stem and loop structures and this non-linear DNA conformation may exclude the template sequence from PCR. A single stranded loxP sequence consists of 34 bases of which the last 13 bases is a palindrome (or inverted repeat) of the first 13 bases. Consequently, base pairing between these regions can produce a hairpin loop structure.

Here we report on false negative genotype results for KO^1st mice derived from Exoc3l2^{tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi} ES cells. This occurred while attempting to amplify templates with primers that flanked a synthetic loxP region, consisting of 80 base pairs. We believe our experience is relevant and informative for those in the process of devising genotyping strategies for similarly engineered animal models.

Materials and Methods

Primer design

The Exoc3l2^{tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi} construct sequence is curated at the NCBI GenBank as JN946244.1 and the wild-type Exoc3l2 gene sequence has the Gene ID: 74463. Primers were designed to target regions of interest in these sequences using the NCBI primer-BLAST tool. Oligonucleotide primer sequences were synthesized by Life Technologies (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Uppsala, Sweden). Primer sequences are presented in Table 1.

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Table 1. Primer names, sequences and predicted PCR product sizes.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165012.t001

Results and Discussion

A robust and reliable genotyping strategy is essential for managing transgenic mouse colonies. The Exoc3l2^{tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi} KO^1st construct consists of three loxP sites (Fig 1A), the most downstream of which is the synthetic loxP3 region, which contains a centrally located loxP sequence (Fig 1A) that is flanked by two construct-specific 23 base pair (bp) sequences (Fig 1A, grey boxes). We designed a forward primer that targeted the loxP2 site of the KO^1st construct (F^loxP2) and combined it with a reverse primer against a Wt sequence in the target exon (R^Target) (Fig 1B), which was predicted to amplify a 637 bp PCR product in mice carrying a KO^1st allele. As all loxP sites are comprised of identical sequences, to achieve locus-specific detection of the loxP2 site the F^loxP2 primer targeted the first sixteen bases of the loxP2 site and eight locus-specific bases upstream of that. To test the PCR reactions, chimeras derived from KO^1st ES cells were included as positive controls (KO^1st) and Wt C57BL6 mice as negative controls (Wt). PCR using biopsies from KO^1st mice yielded a single product close to the predicted amplicon size for the combination of F^loxP2 and R^Target primers, while no product was amplified in Wt mice (Fig 1C). The bands were excised and subjected to Sanger sequencing (using the F^loxP2 primer), which confirmed the presence of KO^1st construct-specific elements (Fig 1E). A section of the sequencing results, including the B2-gateway sequence (B2) and the end of the synthetic cassette that precedes the sequence annotated as a critical region (CR), is presented in Fig 1E. We could also confirm that the synthetic loxP3 region was correctly located by designing a forward primer that targeted the synthetic loxP3 region (F^loxP3) combined with the R^Flank1 primer (Fig 1B), which produced the predicted 136 bp product in KO^1st samples and no product in Wt samples (Fig 1D, upper panel). Sanger sequencing (using the F^loxP3 primer) confirmed that the junction between the synthetic loxP3 region and the Wt sequence was correctly postioned (Fig 1F). To demonstrate that DNA was effectively isolated from the biopsies, we also performed PCR using primers (F^Target and R^Target) that amplify the targeted exon (Fig 1B), which is common to all genotypes (Fig 1D, lower panel).

To permit the distinction of Wt, chimeric/heterozygote and ultimately homozygote genotypes with a single PCR reaction we designed primers that flanked the synthetic loxP3 region of the Exoc3l2^{tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi} KO^1st construct (Fig 2A). From a practical point-of-view, the synthetic loxP3 region is the only construct-specific element that is flanked by Wt specific sequences that are sufficiently long to be targeted with primers for short range PCR. PCR with these primers was predicted to amplify a 386 bp product from Wt alleles and a 453 bp product from KO^1st alleles (Fig 2B). PCR of KO^1st and Wt biopsies using these F^Flank1 and R^Flank1 primers produced a single product that migrated to a point near the 400 bp marker (Fig 2C). No additional band was detected in the KO^1st lanes (Fig 2C). Sanger sequencing confirmed that the amplified products in KO^1st and Wt samples were derived from Wt templates (Fig 2D). This was evidenced by the presence of eleven Wt-specific bases that are replaced in KO^1st templates by the synthetic loxP3 region (Fig 2A). Therefore, while genotyping with primers that targeted elements of the KO^1st construct confirmed the identity of the chimeras (Fig 1), genotyping with primers flanking the synthetic loxP3 region incorrectly indicated that all samples were derived from Wt mice (Fig 2). Given the mosaic distribution of genomic material positive for KO^1st and Wt DNA in biopsies obtained from chimeric mice, we next addressed the possibility that the false negative results obtained using the primers flanking the synthetic loxP3 region were potentially due to low prevalence of KO^1st templates in the DNA samples. DNA was isolated from four female F1 progeny derived from a cross between two KO^1st chimeras. PCR using the F^loxP3 and R^Flank1 primers identified two of the four as positive for the KO^1st template (Fig 2E); however, once again the F^Flank1 and R^Flank1 primer combinations incorrectly identified all four offspring as Wt (Fig 2F). As these two F1 individuals are KO^1st heterozygotes the ratio of the synthetic loxP3 sequence in the DNA samples is equal to that of the equivalent Wt sequence. This suggests that the inability to amplify PCR products using primers that flank the synthetic loxP3 site does not relate to its prevalence relative to the Wt sequence.

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Fig 2. Failure to amplify templates containing the synthetic loxP3 region using flanking primers.

A. Primers targeting Wt sequences upstream (F^Flank1) and downstream (R^Flank1) of the synthetic loxP3 region were predicted to amplify a PCR product of 453 bp from the KO^1st construct and 386 bp from Wt sequences. The 80 bp synthetic loxP3 region replaces eleven Wt-specific bps; therefore, this represents a unique identifier for amplicons derived from Wt alleles. B. PCR with these primers is predicted to produce 453 bp and 386 bp products from KO^1st chimeras and a single 386 bp product from Wt samples. C. A single product is amplified from KO^1st chimeras and Wt mice samples using the F^Flank1 with R^Flank1 primers. PCR was performed with an annealing temperature of 56°C and products were separated on a 1% agarose gel containing GelRed stain. D. Sanger sequencing of the PCR products from C confirms that only amplicons containing the Wt-specific identifier were produced. E. PCR with F^loxP3 and R^Flank1 primers using DNA isolated from four F1 progeny (derived from crossing male and female KO^1st chimeras) identified two individuals as positive for the KO^1st template. F. PCR with F^Flank1 with R^Flank1 primers failed to distinguish the KO^1st positive F1 progeny from Wt samples. PCR was performed with an annealing temperature of 60°C and products were separated on a 2.5% agarose gel containing GelRed stain. The two KO^1st lanes in C represent PCR products derived from the same two distinct KO^1st chimeric mice presented in Fig 1. The Wt and KO^1st chimera DNA samples in F are isolated from brain tissue; these samples are also used in Fig 3. Abbreviations: KO^1st: Knockout first chimera, F1: Filial hybrid 1, P: Primers only.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165012.g002

It is beyond the scope of this short report to elucidate the specific mechanism(s) underlying how the synthetic loxP3 region eluded amplification by PCR. However, while DMSO and betaine were included in all PCR reactions to reduce the potential formation of secondary structures, the palindromic nature of the loxP sequence encodes an inherent propensity to form secondary structures. Therefore, we considered that the failure to genotype KO^1st chimeras might be due to the fact that PCR with primers flanking the synthetic loxP3 region was impeded by the presence of secondary structures in the template. This would imply that the annealing temperature (Ta) of the PCR with the F^Flank1 and R^Flank1 primers was not high enough to melt secondary structures in the KO^1st template that impaired their amplification by PCR. A general recommendation for determining the Ta of a given PCR is to select a temperature approximately 5°C lower than the melting temperature of the primers. The average Tm of the F^Flank1 and R^Flank1 primers was 60.5°C, and the PCR was performed with a Ta of 56°C. However, Sanger sequencing detected only Wt sequences in the amplicons produced from DNA derived from KO^1st chimeras (Fig 2D). We next attempted to use additional flanking primers to amplify templates containing the synthetic loxP3 region by gradually increasing the Ta of the PCR. We tested five pairs of flanking primers. Their binding position relative to the synthetic loxP3 region or the Wt-specific sequence and predicted product sizes are illustrated in Fig 3B. DNA was isolated from the brains of a KO^1st chimera and a Wt mouse and their genotypes were confirmed using the F^loxP3 and R^Flank1 primers (Fig 3A). However, at a Ta of 60°C or 65°C all flanking primer pairs produced products of equal size in the KO^1st chimera and Wt sample, with no additional larger products observed for the KO^1st chimera under any conditions (Fig 3C). All primer pairs failed to amplify products in the KO^1st or Wt samples at a Ta of 70°C (Fig 3C), which was presumably too high to permit primer binding. Based on the results of Fig 3C alone this KO^1st chimera would be falsely genotyped as a Wt mouse. This suggests that only the Wt allele was amplified from the DNA isolated from the KO^1st chimera and that the allele carrying the synthetic loxP3 region had again eluded the PCR. Furthermore, if the synthetic loxP3 region is assuming a secondary structure that interferes with the PCR, then it remains stable at the annealing temperatures tested in Fig 3.

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Fig 3. Targeting alternative flank positions or altering the PCR annealing temperature does not render templates containing the synthetic loxP3 region susceptible to amplification.

A. PCR using the F^loxP3 and R^Flank1 primers correctly distinguished the genotypes of a KO^1st chimera (band at 136 bp) from a Wt mouse, using DNA isolated from brain tissue. B. Binding sites and predicted PCR product sizes for five primer pairs that target Wt sequences flanking the synthetic loxP3 region in KO^1st templates and an eleven bp Wt-specific sequence in Wt templates. C. PCR was performed with the samples from A. and the primer pairs indicated in B. with the annealing temperature (Ta) set to 60°C, 65°C or 70°C. Products were separated on 2.5% agarose gels containing GelRed stain. DNA samples from the same KO^1st chimeric mouse and Wt mouse were used throughout this figure. Abbreviations: P = primers only.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165012.g003

The map of the Exoc3l2^{tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi} construct indicates that the 80 bp synthetic loxP3 region contains a centrally located loxP sequence (34 bases). As with all loxP sites, the first 13 bases and last 13 bases are comprised of palindromic sequences, such that they form perfect base pair matches with each other, permitting the formation of a hairpin loop secondary structure. As discussed this 80 bp sequence is specific to the KO^1st template and replaces eleven Wt-specific bases (Fig 2A). We submitted the 80 base sequence to the RNAstructure Webserver [8], selected DNA as the nucleic acid type, and preserved the default analysis settings. In Fig 4A we present the RNAstructure MaxExpect results, which predicts secondary structures in nucleic acid sequences based on highly probable base-pairing events. A similar structure was predicted with the RNAstructure Fold algorithm, which predicts the lowest free energy structure for a given sequence (structure not shown). High probability intrastrand base pairing is predicted between most of the two stem sequences of the loxP3 sequence (Fig 4A, bases 24–35 and 46–57). Additionally, seven high probability intrastrand base pairs are predicted between sequences in the synthetic regions flanking the loxP3 region (Fig 4A, bases 3–9 and 74–68). The position of these structures are illustrated on a linear version of the synthetic loxP3 sequence in Fig 4B. Given that PCR with the F^Flank and R^Flank primers effectively amplified Wt templates, but failed to detect their KO^1st counterpart (Figs 2 and 3), we propose that the propensity for secondary structure formation encoded in the synthetic loxP3 region may exclude it from the PCR, leading to false negative genotyping results. In contrast, the F^loxP3 primer in combination with the R^Flank1 primer was capable of amplifying its intended loxP-containing templates (Fig 1D). F^loxP3 targets a sequence that is predicted to participate in intrastrand base-pairing (Fig 4, stem¹); therefore, primer binding at this position may compete with intrastrand base-pairing events and in doing so stabilize the template such that it can be amplified by PCR (Fig 4C).

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Fig 4. Predicted secondary structure of the synthetic loxP3 region.

A. The 80 base synthetic loxP3 region was submitted to the RNAstructure Webserver; DNA was selected as the nucleic acid type and the default data settings were preserved. The RNAstructure MaxExpect result generated by the Webserver is presented; this represents a structure formed due to high probability base pairing. The centrally located 34 bases is the loxP sequence (highlighted in pink), of which the first and last 13 bases are palindromic sequences. This facilitates intrastrand base-pairing permitting the formation of a hairpin loop structure. An additional stem structure (stem¹) is predicted due to intrastrand base-pairing between the synthetic DNA sequences that flank the loxP site (highlighted in grey). The probability of base-pairing is illustrated by colour coding. B. A linear view of the 80 bases of the synthetic loxP3 region is annotated with the position of the stem and loop structures. C. Primers that bind sequences that are capable of intrastrand base-pairing may compete with intrastrand base-pairing, stabilizing the template and permitting PCR to proceed. In contrast, primers that bind in the regions flanking the synthetic loxP3 region cannot prevent secondary structure formation and consequently PCR of these templates may be impaired.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165012.g004

PCR protocols for genotyping ES cells are available on the KOMP Repository’s webpage (https://www.komp.org), several strategies are recommended including one similar in design to that described here using F^loxP2 and R^Target primers (Fig 1B). The KOMP protocols also include a strategy for determining zygosity similar to that tested here with the F^Flank and R^Flank primers. They recommend that the bp size difference between the KO^1st and Wt amplicons is greater than 30 bp and that the amplicons themselves are less than 300 bp in size. All the F^Flank and R^Flank primers were predicted to produce amplicons that differed 67 bp between KO^1st and Wt alleles (Fig 3B), which are easily distinguished on a 2.5% agarose gel. It should be noted that others have successfully determined the zygosity of conditional models using similar loxP-flanking strategies (for examples see [10–13]), which amplify templates containing a loxP sequence(s). Therefore, it may be that the additional intrastrand base-pairing in the synthetic loxP3 region (Fig 4A, sequences highlighted in grey) provides greater secondary structure stability than that conferred by the loxP site (Fig 4A, highlighted in pink) alone.

Conclusion

This report aims to highlight a source of potential false negative genotyping connected to the presence of a synthetic loxP region. BLAST alignment analysis of this 80 base pair sequence reveals that it is a common element in over 10,000 of the conditional gene-targeting mouse models available through the KOMP Repository and the European Conditional Mouse Mutagenesis Program. We hope our experience will help others in avoiding this potential source of error when devising their genotyping strategies.

Supporting Information