DNA2.0 Offers Third-Party Genetic Constructs

By Bio-IT World Staff

May 10, 2011 | DNA2.0 will announced that it will offer third-party genetic constructs through the company’s groundbreaking gene assembly and design application, Gene Designer, tomorrow at PEGS 2011* in Boston. The Rhamex protein expression systems from Xbrane Bioscience will be the first commercial constructs that users will be able to access and order directly through Gene Designer. In addition to Xbrane’s Rhamex expression system, DNA2.0 will begin to offer a wide range of standard biological parts so that users may easily create genetic constructs from standard building blocks with Gene Designer.

“We’re creating a marketplace for synthetic biology, with Gene Designer serving as the “app store” for molecular biologists,” said Claes Gustafsson, COO at DNA2.0 in a press release. “Not only does Gene Designer offer a powerful design application with rich graphics and a patented drag-and-drop functionality, but now users will have access to license powerful preassembled and validated constructs such as Xbrane’s expression system, fundamentally streamlining the process of creating and purchasing genes.”

Xbrane’s bacterial protein expression system is tightly controlled by rhamnose and enables high expression yields, even for toxic and otherwise challenging proteins. Xbrane’s Rhamex system is tightly regulated at the individual cell level and at the same time capable of producing high protein yields of bioactive and correctly folded proteins. The Rhamex system is strain independent.

“While research scientists and production technologists are often limited in their choice of bacterial expression systems for the production of toxic proteins, we are excited to partner with DNA2.0 to offer our affordable, user-friendly Rhamex expression systems through Gene Designer,” said Lykke Abdon, director of marketing of Xbrane Bioscience. “We are entering a new age of bioengineering that relies on the availability of the kind of preassembled, specialized DNA building blocks that Xbrane makes, and DNA2.0’s Gene Designer offers an exceptional marketplace for sharing, designing and constructing novel genetic constructs.”

DNA2.0 intends to expand the catalogue of DNA components available within Gene Designer and looks forward to partnering with a wide range of developers to offer users a rich marketplace of preassembled constructs—making the design and assembly of genes faster and easier than ever before.

*PEGS 2011, the essential protein engineering summit, Cambridge Healthtech Institute, May 9-13, Boston, MA