Gene Mutation Service
BOC Sciences provides genetic mutation service, altering the nucleotide sequence of the organisms' genome, improving strains with an enhancement of their metabolic capability for valuable metabolites, and carrying out the fermentation production of bioactive compounds. With over 20 years of experience in strain improvement technology, we are capable of achieving beneficial mutations in target strains through various methods to support our customers in R&D and production.
Introduction
Mutations are changes in the nucleotide sequence of an organism, which may occur spontaneously in nature, or induced by exposure to mutagens. Mutagenesis is the process by which mutations are induced in the cells. Mutations may have beneficial effects, deleterious effects, or no consequences in organisms. In nature, mutagenesis could lead to various heritable diseases, but it is also a driving force of evolution. In general, mutation can be grouped into two types: random mutation and site-directed mutation. Random mutations can be generated by using radiation or chemical mutagens. The site-directed mutagenesis, also known as oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis, is a molecular biology method used to make specific changes to the DNA sequence. This technology requires the synthesis of a short DNA primer that contains the desired mutation site and is complementary to the template DNA around the mutation site. The single-strand primer is then extended using a DNA polymerase, and the gene copied contains the mutated site. The mutation may be a single base change, multiple base changes, deletion, or insertion.
Application of Gene Mutation
Random mutagenesis is a valuable technique to study the function of different gene products. Genes cloned into plasmids are propagated through mutagenic strains, such as Escherichia coli to produce the library of randomly mutagenized plasmids. This method provides a straightforward and economical way to introduce random point mutations at a reasonably high mutation rate throughout the gene. Site-directed mutagenesis is one of the most important laboratory techniques for creating genetic information libraries via introducing mutations into DNA sequences. This technique allows scientists to explore the structure and biological activity of DNA and proteins, including protein engineering. Mutagenesis can also serve as an effective pathway to improve strains, accelerating the transformation of original strains into industrialized strains.
Our Advantages
- Over 20 years of experience in traditional strain breeding.
- Capable of effectively improving various types of strains covering the bacterial and eukaryotic systems, such as bacteria, actinomycetes, mold, yeast, etc.
- Our improved strains have the characteristics of rapid growth, genetic stability, reduction of cultivation cost, etc.
- Advanced strain culture technology.
- Optimized medium selection, biomass control and product induction.
- Cost-effective and high-quality products.
Our Methods
Induced mutations are alterations in the gene after it has come in contact with mutagens and environmental causes. Mutagenesis using radiation or chemical mutagens were non-site-specific, generating random mutations
- Chemicals induced mutation: hydroxylamine, nucleic acid analogs such as bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), alkylating agents, agents that form DNA adducts, DNA intercalating agents, DNA crosslinkers, etc.
- Radiation-induced mutation: Ultraviolet light (UV) can induce adjacent pyrimidine bases in a DNA strand to become covalently joined as a pyrimidine dimer.
Site-directed mutagenesis is also called site-specific mutagenesis or oligonucleotide-directed.
Insertional mutagenesis generates mutations of DNA by the addition of one or more base pairs.
Project Workflow
- Customer advisory
- Project discussion
- Strain mutation service
- Selection of appropriate strains
- Evaluation of the novel strain
- Project delivery
