cDNA synthesis (RT reaction) was performed in a 20 μL
reaction volume containing 1 μL of RNA, 1 μL of 5 pM
primer, and 9.9 μL nuclease-free water (Invitrogen,
Carlsbad, CA) at 70°C for 10 minutes. Subsequently, 8.1
μL of a mix containing 4 μL of 5× first strand buffer [250
mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.3), 375 mM KCl, 15 mM MgCl2], 2 μL
0.1 M DTT, 2 μL 5 mM dNTPs and 20 U Super Script II
reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen) was added. The reaction
was carried out at 42°C for one hour and subsequently at
70°C for 15 minutes.