[WHITE PAPER] Best practices for high throughput sample preparation related to virus studies

Viruses are defined as submicroscopic, parasitic particles of genetic material contained in a protein envelope. To survive, viruses have to infect host cells and use their processes to replicate. The viral replication cycle can lead to dramatic biochemical and structural changes in the host cells, which may lead to cell damage. Most viruses that affect humans cause acute infections, with the development of diseases over a relatively short time period with rapid recovery (influenza, measles, varicella, Covid-19). On the other hand, some viruses lead to persistent infections, where the virus stays continually present in the body throughout the host life. In the case of HIV and HPV, the viral particles slowly increase in number over a long period of time after infection, eventually causing visible symptoms linked to severe immune depression or cancers. It has also been shown that viruses can affect the evolution of species by integrating partially or completely their host genome. For these reasons, the study of viruses is of vital importance, both to increase our understanding of animal and vegetal life, and to learn how to counteract the dangerous effects of viral infections with vaccines and anti-viral treatments.

Both anti-viral drug and vaccine development begin with high throughput screening phases. Virus research workflows therefore need to be designed to be able to process high numbers of samples at the same time while maintaining virus integrity and limiting bias. Homogenization is the first step of most viral extraction workflows. To obtain reproducible results, a proper homogenization of virus-infected samples is crucial. Mechanical lysis using beads (bead-beating) is the gold standard for standardized approaches to homogenization. The Precellys tissue homogenizers are the ideal instruments to evaluate viral RNA and viral titer from various tissues thanks to their 3-D bead beating technology. In this white paper, we present optimized protocols allowing for high throughput and reproducible virology analysis.