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A universal fixation method based on quaternary ammonium salts (RNAlater) for omics-technologies: Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a case study

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Abstract

Genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and fluxomics are powerful omics-technologies that play a major role in today’s research. For each of these techniques good sample quality is crucial. Major factors contributing to the quality of a sample is the actual sampling procedure itself and the way the sample is stored directly after sampling. It has already been described that RNAlater can be used to store tissues and cells in a way that the RNA quality and quantity are preserved. In this paper, we demonstrate that quaternary ammonium salts (RNAlater) are also suitable to preserve and store samples from Saccharomyces cerevisiae for later use with the four major omics-technologies. Moreover, it is shown that RNAlater also preserves the cell morphology and the potential to recover growth, permitting microscopic analysis and yeast cell culturing at a later stage.

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Acknowledgments

The Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, the Danish Agency for Space and Technology, and the European Space Agency (ESA) PRODEX program supported this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. VIB Nucleomics Core, VIB, Leuven, Belgium

    Rudy G. E. van Eijsden

  2. Laboratory Protein Biochemistry and Biomolecular Engineering, Department Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Catherine Stassen & Bart Devreese

  3. Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, Centre for Malting and Brewing Science, K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Luk Daenen, Sebastiaan E. Van Mulders & Freddy R. Delvaux

  4. Department of Systems Biology, Center for Microbial Biotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

    Prashant M. Bapat

  5. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Verena Siewers & Jens Nielsen

  6. Research Group of Structural Biology, Department of Bioengineering Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Katty V. Y. Goossens & Ronnie G. Willaert

  7. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Paul Van Hummelen

Authors
  1. Rudy G. E. van Eijsden
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  2. Catherine Stassen
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  3. Luk Daenen
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  4. Sebastiaan E. Van Mulders
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  5. Prashant M. Bapat
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  6. Verena Siewers
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  7. Katty V. Y. Goossens
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  8. Jens Nielsen
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  9. Freddy R. Delvaux
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  10. Paul Van Hummelen
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  11. Bart Devreese
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  12. Ronnie G. Willaert
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katty V. Y. Goossens.

Additional information

Rudy G.E. van Eijsden and Catherine Stassen contributed equally to this work.

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van Eijsden, R.G.E., Stassen, C., Daenen, L. et al. A universal fixation method based on quaternary ammonium salts (RNAlater) for omics-technologies: Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a case study. Biotechnol Lett 35, 891–900 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-013-1163-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-013-1163-0

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