Our Available Vectors & Selectable Markers
Auxotrophic & RecA- strains of Agrobacterium
The MultiGreen vector system provides the convenience of GreenGate cloning while removing limitations to the number of elements that can be added at levels 1 and 2.
pVP141, pVP143, pVP144: Single component base editors for generating base-edited Agrobacterium strains
CRISPR Cas9 vectors are very efficient at inducing targeted mutations in the genomes of many organisms. The vectors here have been very successful in soybean & poplar.
The ta-siRNA pathway is very useful for inducing gene silencing in soybean. A miRNA target sequence can be added as a ‘silencing tag’ to any gene of interest. Small RNAs are produced downstream of the miRNA target site and induce gene silencing.
AtlDsyn non-antibiotic selectable marker gene
AtlDsyn is a codon-optimized version of arabitol dehydrogenase from E. coli strain C. Arabitol is a 5-carbon sugar that plants cannot metabolize. Arabitol dehydrogenase converts arabitol into xylulose, which is metabolizable by plants. Arabitol dehydrogenase can be used as plant selectable marker by growing tissues on media which primarily use arabitol as a carbon source. Thus far, atlDsyn has been tested fur rice, switchgrass, and tall fescue transformation.
pMECA, a very versatile cloning vector
pMECA is a cloning vector which contains 44 unique restriction sites, including 9 rare-cutters, all within the 230-bp polylinker. Traditional blue/white screening can be used to identify bacterial colonies with inserts cloned into the vector. Alternatively, bacterial colonies whose vectors contain inserts grow much faster than those without, permitting the size of the bacterial colonies to be used to determine those which contain inserts.
pMECA-R, a non-antibiotic-resistant gene vector for microprojectile bombardment
pMECA-R is a pMECA derivative in which the ampicillin resistance gene has been replaced with the ribitol operon from E. coli strain C, thus getting the ability to grow on ribitol. Use of this plasmid might help bypass some of the concerns over the use of antibiotic resistance markers in plants.
pUGA, a vector for the rapid assembly of multiple gene cassettes
pUGA is another pMECA derivative, with its multiple cloning site replaced with a new one consisting of 5 meganuclease sites. These recognize sequences 9-19 base pairs long, making them extremely rare cutters. This vector is particularly effective for the assembly of multiple genes into one construct. Versions are available for both Agrobacterium– and microprojectile-mediated transformation.
