James Lucas
Student
UC Davis Biochemistry
Member of the Grand Prize–winning team of the 2014 iGEM Competition
Why do you use GeneArt® Strings™ DNA Fragments, and how have they impacted your research?
For the UC Davis 2014 iGEM project, we needed to screen a large number of enzymes for unique substrate specificities. GeneArt® Strings™ fragments made it extremely straightforward to order our desired genes and construct our expression plasmids with Gibson assembly. This allowed us to minimize the time between identifying enzyme sequences and experimentally characterizing these enzymes in the lab. Within the timeframe of an iGEM project, accelerating this process was extremely important to the success of our project!
What do you like best about GeneArt® Strings™ DNA Fragments?
My favorite aspect of GeneArt® Strings™ fragments is how convenient it is to customize and order DNA. The online project manager lets you modify genes by adding 3’ and 5’ cloning sites, protecting against certain restriction sites, and optimizing sequences for expression in different chassis. The project manager interface is extremely intuitive and makes ordering GeneArt® Strings™ fragments quick and painless.
What was your ordering experience like?
Ordering GeneArt® Strings™ fragments is quick and efficient. It takes only about 10 minutes to order genes, and they arrive a week later ready for cloning.
Have you used the online GeneArt® portal for gene optimization?
Yes, the online portal for gene optimization is extremely easy to use. Once you are finished specifying cloning sites and restriction sites to avoid, optimization is as simple as selecting your chassis in a dropdown menu. It takes less than a minute and your genes are optimized and ready to go!
Once you received your GeneArt® Strings™ DNA Fragments, were you ready to proceed to your experiment?
On the same day as receiving my GeneArt® Strings™ fragments, I use Gibson assembly to construct my plasmids and transform them into BLR strainEscherichia coli for enzyme expression.
Would you recommend GeneArt® Strings™ DNA Fragments to others?
Definitely!