Scientific biology is rapidly growing. In this field, where organisms can be engineered to do things such as manufacture medicines and biofuels or decompose plastic, the production of custom DNA sequences is vital. Yet, this process remained unchanged for many decades and was slow and unreliable.
Recently, discoveries have been addressing the bottleneck in biology research. Scientists have devised a new way to synthesize DNA sequences by creatively utilizing enzymes. This method offers better precision, speed, and quality. Moreover, it is cheaper and more efficient.
As a result of the mentioned advantages, modern custom gene synthesis has emerged as a powerful tool in molecular biology. It has become increasingly popular due to its ability to be efficiently utilized for applications such as synthetic biology, protein expression, vaccine development, and gene therapy. This article explores the power of custom gene synthesis and its advantages.
Custom Gene Synthesis Services: How Powerful Are They?
Through the advancement in gene synthesis technology, scientists can now take on the most complex gene sequences. In contrast to traditional molecular cloning technologies, modern custom gene synthesis services offer quick turnaround time and cost-effective solutions for custom DNA synthesis, recombinant expression, and cloning projects. The process can also offer various downstream services such as mutagenesis, subcloning, and plasmid preparations.
Some of the highlights of modern gene synthesis include the following:
- Very high success rate
- Companies can offer free codon optimization upon request
- Subcloning into vectors, with multiple vectors to choose from
- Affordable mutagenesis services
- All-in-one custom gene, antibody, protein, and peptide services
Complementary Gene Codon Optimization
Codon bias is the basic and most frequent reason heterologous proteins might not express rare codons in the mRNA. When a target gene has a different codon frequency from the expression host, there is a halt in translation, and it may be terminated prematurely.
Gene synthesis companies can remove codon bias by optimizing gene synthesis services. They can use an approach of synonymous codon modification to enhance solubility. There will be the opportunity to alter a gene’s codon bias to make it more compatible with the recombinant host.
Codon optimization encompasses substituting rare codons with common ones while keeping the amino acid sequence. Optimizing a particular gene in a heterogenous system of expression can improve the rate of translation and beat constraints caused by variations in codon use. Custom DNA synthesis is a type of codon optimization that assists in avoiding codon bias challenges that occur during heterologous protein production.
Expression strains (E.Coli) with uncommon tRNAs help overcome the codon bias of the recombinant genes. It happens when using natural resource presidents in tRNAs, thus enhancing protein abundance. You are guaranteed monoclonal antibody development with an optimized vector design for antigen synthesis.
Cloning and Expression Vectors
Custom synthesis companies can offer complimentary cloning into a standard vector for every gene synthesis project. They can also subclone synthesized genes into their expression vectors at affordable fees.
Expression vectors are plasmid viruses that are designed for gene expression in cells. It is a vector highly utilized for the production of proteins. They contain basic protein features of a vector, such as a selectable marker, insertion site, origin of replication, etc. Furthermore, they contain regulatory elements that assist in the synthesis of proteins. Therefore, the vector DNA fragment contains a proper sequence for the synthesis of proteins.
On the other hand, cloning vectors are small DNA fragments with the stability to act as vectors for cloning purposes. Typically, new DNA is inserted into the cloning vector. After reaching the target cell, they replicate and integrate with the host or target. They can be bacterial, virus, or plasmid cells.
Benefits of Custom Gene Synthesis and Cloning
Gene synthesis cloning can be said to be the in vitro chemical synthesis of molecules with double-stranded DNA. It is different from polymerase chain reaction and molecular cloning because researchers do not have to start with DNA sequences that were already existing. Consequently, a synthetic molecule with double-stranded DNA without any size or nucleotide sequence limits is possible. Below are some of the advantages that custom gene synthesis offers:
Precision
Modern custom gene synthesis allows for the precise control of gene sequence, which is vital for designing specific constructs of the genes. These constructs include site-directed mutagenesis and codon optimization. Researchers can design genes with exact nucleotide sequences, thus making it possible to engineer genes with unique properties.
Most gene synthesis service providers assure 100% gene sequence accuracy. The companies use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods to ensure gene product accuracy. It is the standard method of getting exact copies of a target DNA. This high accuracy in gene replication is vital in facilitating consistent results from research or product delivery in applications like protein expression, antibody production, recombinant protein production, and ELISA kit production.
Speed
Depending on the gene complexity, completing custom gene synthesis takes a few days. This contrasts traditional methods, which take much time to deliver the target gene needed for research and industrial purposes.
Previously, research projects stalled, and others shut down due to the extended periods DNA synthesis companies took to create DNA products and genes. Today, the average turnaround time for gene fragments is 6-9 days, while the turnaround time for clonal genes is 10-15 days.
Gene synthesis providers can offer supplementary services such as free vectors for subcloning in protein expression systems. The delivery of the final gene product as a lyophilized plasmid takes less than a day. This allows researchers to request products online from gene synthesis companies quickly.
Quality
You can get high-quality genes from custom gene synthesis free from mutations and errors. Gene synthesis providers utilize sophisticated algorithms and software to ensure that the gene sequences are accurate and error-free. Moreover, they conduct extensive quality control tests such as gel electrophoresis to ensure the final product is of the highest quality.
Cost Savings
Ordering a synthetic gene is often more affordable than ordering cloning kits, oligos, and DNA sequencing services. This is a result of the ubiquity of DNA synthesis services. The service companies provide a “no gene, no change” policy that protects biotech stakeholders and researchers from losses and genes of low quality.
Wrapping Up
Gene synthesis has revolutionized biotechnology. It has facilitated research to develop optimized genes to enhance the quality of life within and outside medical fields. Synthetic genes allow high throughput gene product generation for different applications. It suffices to say that gene synthesis is the future of biotechnology. The prospects are positive since researchers continuously work on new methods to make the process efficient and cost-effective.
