Open AccessLiquid biopsies for omics-based analysis in sentinel mussels
Author(s) -
France Caza,
Philippine Granger Joly de Boissel,
Richard Villemur,
Stéphane Betoulle,
Yves StPierre
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0223525
Subject(s) - digital polymerase chain reaction , sampling (signal processing) , metagenomics , biology , liquid biopsy , transcriptome , computational biology , biopsy , nucleic acid , computer science , bioinformatics , pathology , polymerase chain reaction , medicine , biochemistry , genetics , gene expression , filter (signal processing) , cancer , gene , computer vision
Liquid biopsy of plasma is a simple and non-invasive technology that holds great promise in biomedical research. It is based on the analysis of nucleic acid-based biomarkers with predictive potential. In the present work, we have combined this concept with the FTA technology for sentinel mussels. We found that hemocytes collected from liquid biopsies can be readily fixed on FTA cards and used for long-term transcriptome analysis. We also showed that liquid biopsy is easily adaptable for metagenomic analysis of bacterial profiles of mussels. We finally provide evidence that liquid biopsies contained circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA) which can be used as an easily accessible genomic reservoir. Sampling of FTA-fixed circulating nucleic acids is stable at room temperature and does not necessitate a cold-chain protection. It showed comparable performance to frozen samples and is ideally adapted for sampling in remote areas, most notably in polar regions threatened by anthropogenic activities. From an ethical point of view, this minimally-invasive and non-lethal approach further reduces incidental mortality associated with conventional tissue sampling. This liquid biopsy-based approach should thus facilitate biobanking activities and development of omics-based biomarkers in mussels to assess the quality of aquatic ecosystems.