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DNA assembler, an in vivo genetic method for rapid construction of biochemical pathways
Nucleic Acids Research (2009)
  • Zengyi Shao, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Hua Zhao, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Huimin Zhao, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Abstract

The assembly of large recombinant DNA encoding a whole biochemical pathway or genome represents a significant challenge. Here, we report a new method, DNA assembler, which allows the assembly of an entire biochemical pathway in a single step via in vivo homologous recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that DNA assembler can rapidly assemble a functional d-xylose utilization pathway (∼9 kb DNA consisting of three genes), a functional zeaxanthin biosynthesis pathway (∼11 kb DNA consisting of five genes) and a functional combined d-xylose utilization and zeaxanthin biosynthesis pathway (∼19 kb consisting of eight genes) with high efficiencies (70 - 100%) either on a plasmid or on a yeast chromosome. As this new method only requires simple DNA preparation and one-step yeast transformation, it represents a powerful tool in the construction of biochemical pathways for synthetic biology, metabolic engineering and functional genomics studies.

Keywords
  • xylose,
  • zeaxanthin,
  • DNA,
  • biosynthesis,
  • chemical analysis,
  • chromosome,
  • functional genomics,
  • fungal strain,
  • homologous recombination,
  • metabolic engineering,
  • molecular cloning,
  • gene vector,
  • genetics,
  • Institute for Genomic Biology
Publication Date
2009
Publisher Statement
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Citation Information
Zengyi Shao, Hua Zhao and Huimin Zhao. "DNA assembler, an in vivo genetic method for rapid construction of biochemical pathways" Nucleic Acids Research Vol. 37 Iss. 2 (2009)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/zengyi_shao/2/