Hernandez Sarah I, Peccoud Samuel J, Berezin Casey-Tyler, Peccoud Jean
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
GenoFAB, Fort Collins, CO, USA; Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Trends Biotechnol. 2025 Apr 7. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2025.03.010.
Plasmids are the workhorse of biotechnology. These small DNA molecules are used to produce recombinant proteins and to engineer living organisms. They can be regarded as the blueprints of many biotechnology products. Therefore, it is critical to ensure that the sequences of these DNA molecules match their intended designs. Yet, plasmid verification remains challenging. To secure the exchange of plasmids in research and development workflows, we have developed self-documenting plasmids that encode information about themselves in their own DNA molecules. Users of self-documenting plasmids can retrieve critical information about the plasmid without prior knowledge of the plasmid identity. The insertion of documentation in the plasmid sequence does not preclude their propagation in bacteria or functional fluorescent protein expression in mammalian cells. This technology simplifies plasmid verification, hardens supply chains, and has the potential to transform the protection of intellectual property (IP) in the life sciences.
质粒是生物技术的主力军。这些小的DNA分子用于生产重组蛋白和改造生物体。它们可被视为许多生物技术产品的蓝图。因此，确保这些DNA分子的序列与其预期设计相匹配至关重要。然而，质粒验证仍然具有挑战性。为了确保在研发工作流程中质粒的交换，我们开发了自我记录质粒，这些质粒在其自身的DNA分子中编码有关它们自己的信息。自我记录质粒的用户无需事先了解质粒的身份，就能检索到有关该质粒的关键信息。在质粒序列中插入文档并不妨碍它们在细菌中的传播或在哺乳动物细胞中功能性荧光蛋白的表达。这项技术简化了质粒验证，强化了供应链，并有可能改变生命科学中的知识产权保护。
