Analysis of Somatic LINE-1 Insertions in Neurons

The method described here is designed to detect and localize somatic genome variation caused by the human retrotransposon LINE-1 (L1) in the genome of neuronal cells. This method combines single-cell manipulation and whole genome amplification technology with a hybridization-based, high-throughput sequencing method called Retrotransposon Capture sequencing (RC-seq) for the precise analysis of the L1 insertion content of single cell genomes. The method is divided into four major sections: extraction of neuronal nuclei and single nuclei isolation; whole genome amplification; RC-seq; and experimental validation of putative insertions.