Dual extraction of mRNA and lipids from a single biological sample

The extraction of RNA and lipids from a large number of biological samples is time-consuming and costly with steps required for both transcriptomic and lipidomic approaches. Most protocols rely on independent extraction of nucleic acids and lipids from a single sample, thereby increasing the need for biological material and inducing variability in data analysis. We investigated whether it is possible to use a standard RNA extraction procedure to analyze not only RNA levels, but also lipids in a single liver sample. We show that the organic phase obtained when using standard reagents for RNA extraction can be used to analyze lipids, including neutral lipids and fatty acids, by gas chromatography. We applied this technique to an analysis of lipids and the associated gene expression pattern in mice with hepatic steatosis induced by pharmacological activation of nuclear receptor LXR.