Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Systematic evaluation of 24 extraction and library preparation combinations for metagenomic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva
doi: 10.64898/2026.04.16.719115
Figure Lengend Snippet: RNA-Seq libraries were created from the eight different nucleic acid extraction methods using three different RNA-Seq library preparation methods: NEBNext Single Cell/Low Input RNA library preparation kit (NEB), Revelo RNA-Seq High Sensitivity library preparation kit (Revelo), and High Sensitivity BRB-Seq RNA library preparation kit (BRB-Seq). Reads were mapped to viral, bacterial, and eukaryotic genomes present in the RefSeq database. The proportion of total reads mapping to SARS-CoV-2 is shown either grouped by A) nucleic extraction method or B) RNA-Seq library preparation method. As a measure of extraction quality, the proportion of total reads mapping to MS2 is shown either grouped by C) nucleic extraction method or D) by RNA-Seq library preparation method. The proportion of E) SARS-CoV-2 reads or F) MS2 reads to total reads is shown with every combination of nucleic extraction methods and RNA-Seq library preparation kits with a darker shade indicating a higher proportion of SARS-CoV-2 or MS2 reads. (Z1 - Zymo Quick-RNA Magbead, Z2 - Zymo Quick-DNA/RNA Viral Magbead, M1 - MagMAX mirVana Total RNA, M2 - MagMAX Viral/Pathogen, M3 - MagMAX Microbiome Ultra, M4 - MagMAX Viral RNA Isolation, Q1 - QIAamp Viral RNA, P1 - PureLink Viral RNA/DNA). Statistics were calculated by a One-Way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s HSD post-hoc test. Asterisks above connecting brackets indicate significant differences between those two specific groups. * denotes p<0.05, ** denotes p<0.01, and *** denotes p<0.001.
Article Snippet: We generated contrived positive saliva samples by pooling 96 SARS-CoV-2 PCR-negative saliva samples from healthy individuals, adding MS2 phage (Varizymes, 6000L) with a final concentration of 12,500 copies/μL, and adding Heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 (ATCC, VR-1986HK) with a final concentration of 5,000 copies/μL.
Techniques: RNA Sequencing, Extraction, Single Cell, RNA Library Preparation, Isolation