| abstract |
The present invention provides a method of preparing a target RNA depleted composition from an initial RNA containing composition, comprising a) contacting the initial RNA containing composition with one or more groups of probe molecules, wherein a group of probe molecules has the following characteristics: i) the group comprises two or more different probe molecules having a length of 100 nt or less; ii) the probe molecules comprised in said group are complementary to a target region of a target RNA; iii) when hybridized to said target region, the two or more different probe molecules are located adjacent to each other in the formed double-stranded hybrid; and generating a double-stranded hybrid between the target RNA and the probe molecules; b) capturing the double-stranded hybrid by using a binding agent which binds the double-stranded hybrid, thereby forming a hybrid/binding agent complex; c) separating the hybrid/binding agent complexes from the composition, thereby providing a target RNA depleted composition. By combining hybrid capturing with a unique probe design, an improved depletion method is provided which effectively and specifically removes unwanted target RNA such as ribosomal RNA (rRNA) from total RNA, while ensuring recovery of mRNA and noncoding RNA from various species, including human, mouse, and rat. By improving the ratio of useful data, decreasing bias, and preserving non-coding RNA species, the method provides high-quality RNA that is especially suited for next-generation sequencing (NGS) applications. By integrating said depletion method in common sequencing applications, in particular NGS applications such as transcriptome sequencing, improved methods for sequencing RNA molecules are provided. |