E. coli is arguably the most ubiquitous host organism in the biotechnology workplace, and it is used to make literally thousands of recombinant proteins and plasmids needed in the pharmaceutical and biochemical industries. Strain engineering, like cloning, is a fundamental technology used to confer new traits onto existing strains. Now (Fig. 1), Nature Technology Corp. has developed novel methods for transferring traits between strains, called Genome Mass Transfer (GMT, Williams et al., 2009).
NTC offers a complete line of genome altering technologies, including knock-out, knock-in, and GMT services (Fig. 2,3), among others. Call an NTC specialist today to discuss your strain requirements, and let us put together the genotype you need, or provide you with the tools to do it yourself.
Fig. 1. Genome Mass Transfer permits direct transfer of genes and operonsbetween strains. (above)
Fig. 2. Flow chart: Genome Mass Transfer. (above)
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Fig. 3. An NTC autolytic strain of E. coli for plasmid and recombinant protein production: NTC-DH5-AL. An endoglucanase enzyme is programmed to dissolve the peptidoglycan cell wall. Used in combination with Triton X100 and EDTA, all three protective layers are preforated in a slightly acidic environment, turning the bacterial cells into nano-sieves for recovery of the product (in this case, plasmid DNA).
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Reference:
Strain engineering by genome mass transfer: Efficient chromosomal trait transfer method utilizing donor genomic DNA and recipient recombineering hosts, Williams, JA, Luke, J, Hodgson, C (2009)
Mol. Biotechnol., 43:41-51.
