Natalie Grima, Lyndal Henden, Owen Watson, Ian P Blair, Kelly L Williams “Simultaneous isolation of high-quality RNA and DNA from post-mortem human central nervous system tissues for omics studies” Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, Volume 81, Issue 2, February 2022, Pages 135–145
DNA and RNA are important molecules responsible for the storage and reading of genetic information in all living cells. Examination of DNA and RNA from pathology affected tissues, such as the central nervous system in MND, can provide us with information on the genetic, epigenetic and gene expression changes underlying disease. This publication describes a methodology for the simultaneous extraction of DNA and RNA from post-mortem human tissue from six brain regions variably involved in MND. Isolated DNA and RNA were demonstrated to be of high-quality, with application of RNA sequencing demonstrating that MND-specific gene expression changes could be detected. In addition, we observed features unique to spinal cord RNA and highlight important considerations for neurodegenerative disease researchers performing multi-omic or multi-regional studies.