By Alyssa Shepard
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Purifying plasmid DNA from bacterial cultures is a core protocol in molecular biology. And whilekit-free plasmid purification is always an option, let’s be honest — kits are quick, easy, and don’t involve phenol-chloroform.
I fell in love with biology because of an image that was honestly quite boring.
Here at Addgene, we often refer to plasmids as lab or experimental tools. They certainly are very handy in research, but we’re really borrowing these tools from Mother Nature’s toolbox. Natural plasmids, also called environmental plasmids, are all around us!
If cloning methods had personalities, SLIC (sequence- and ligation-independent cloning) would be a true rebel. Not only does this system not use site-specific recombination, it also doesn’t require a ligation step. Based on the robust system of homologous recombination found in ...
All plasmids rely on their host cell's replication machinery in order to replicate—but not always to the same extent. As described in our previous Origin of Replication post, DNA replication is initiated at the ori and may or may not be synchronized with the replication of the ...
Modular cloning is a popular DNA assembly tool used to build single- and multi-gene constructs for a variety of applications. MoClo tools can be used in bacterial and cell-free expression systems, mammalian cells, yeast, flies, and even plants! In this blog we will review common ...
Understanding the characteristics of natural plasmids and how they function in nature can inform us on how to create better recombinant vectors. In this blog post, we’ll define plasmid host range, identify a few of the features that confer broad host range in plasmids in nature, ...