To measure repair using the inducible I-SceI protein (TST) in combination with siRNA-mediated inhibition of CtIP, HEK293 cell lines with each of the reporters and stable expression of TST were first plated on 24 well plates at 105 cells/well. The following day, the wells were transfected with 70nM siRNA duplex mixed with 4ul/ml of Lipofectamine 2000 in Optimem (Invitrogen). After 4.5h, transfection complexes were diluted two-fold with media without antibiotics, and 48h after the initiation of transfection, 4OHT was added at 3 µM for 24h. Three days after 4OHT was added, the percentage of GFP+ cells was analyzed by FACS as described above. Knockdown of CtIP levels using the various siRNAs was confirmed by RT-PCR from RNA samples isolated from parallel transfections at the time of 4OHT addition (data not shown). Amplification product was quantified at the threshold cycle by including SYBR green in the PCR reaction and using an iQ5 cycler for real-time analysis at the end of each cycle (BioRad). Products were normalized relative to a primer set directed against actin. Sequences of the siRNAs siCtIP-p (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), and siCtIP-1 [25] (link), and primers for RT-PCR are shown in
Repair frequencies are the mean of at least three transfections or four 4OHT treatments, and error bars represent the standard deviation from the mean. For some experiments, repair frequencies are shown relative to samples co-transfected with I-SceI and an empty vector (EV). For this calculation, the percentage of GFP+ cells from each sample was divided by the mean value of the EV samples treated in the parallel experiment. Similarly, to calculate the fold-difference in repair between siRNA-treated and control-siRNA treated cells, the percentage of GFP+ cells from each sample was divided by the mean value of control-siRNA samples from the parallel experiment. Statistical analysis was performed using the unpaired t-test.