Identifying widespread and recurrent variants of genetic parts to improve annotation of engineered DNA sequences.

ABSTRACT: Engineered plasmids have been workhorses of recombinant DNA technology for nearly half a century. Plasmids are used to clone DNA sequences encoding new genetic parts and to reprogram cells by combining these parts in new ways. Historically, many genetic parts on plasmids were copied and reused without routinely checking their DNA sequences. With the widespread use of high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies, we now know that plasmids often contain variants of common genetic parts that differ slightly from their canonical sequences. Because the exact provenance of a genetic part on a particular plasmid is usually unknown, it is difficult to determine whether these differences arose due to mutations during plasmid construction and propagation or due to intentional editing by researchers.

SUBMITTER: McGuffie MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10120640 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature