Division II.1.1 Total RNA extraction

All work with RNA shall be performed on ice, using gloves.

Total RNA shall be extracted using the phenol-chloroform method or RNA affinity spin columns, according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Purified RNA shall be re-suspended in distilled RNase-free water (namely water treated with 0,1 % diethyl pyrocarbonate).

The concentration and purity of the extracted RNA shall be estimated by measuring the optical density at 260 nm and at 280 nm. An alternative approach may be to include internal controls targeted against the virus genome as referred to in point II.1.3.