Next Generation Sequencing Facilitates Quantitative Analysis of Normal Human Kidney Transcriptomes

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized systems-based analysis of cellular pathways. The goals of this study are to compare NGS-derived normal human kidney transcriptome profiling (RNA-seq) to microarray and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT–PCR) methods and to evaluate protocols for optimal high-throughput data analysis The kidney tissue was immediately placed and stored in RNAlater® (Ambion), according to the manufacturer’s instruction. The tissue was manually microdissected under microscope in RNAlater® pool for glomerular and tubular compartment. Dissected tissue was homogenized and RNA was prepared using RNAeasy mini columns (Qiagen, Valencia, CA, US), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. RNA quality and quantity were determined using the Laboratory-on-Chip Total RNA PicoKit Agilent BioAnalyzer. Only samples without evidence of degradation were further used (RNA Integrity Number >6).