Kreatech Announces REPLI-g® Supply Agreement with Qiagen

Kreatech Biotechnology BV and Qiagen GmbH a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qiagen have signed a supply agreement pursuant to which Kreatech will market Qiagen's REPLI-g^® Whole Genome Amplification Kits in combination with their proprietary Universal Linkage System (ULS™) for the life science research marketplace.

The coupling of the ULS™ technology with REPLI-g^® will enable Kreatech to offer researchers the advantages of direct labeling of REPLI-g^® amplified genomic DNA with ULS™.

The partnership grants Kreatech global distribution rights for REPLI-g^® for use with ULS in microarray applications within the life science research markets.

Kreatech will develop and manufacture microarray WGA Amplification and Labeling Kits for genomic DNA for arrayCGH applications.

"This agreement enables us to deliver a unique product to researchers," said Brent Keller, General Manager, Kreatech USA and VP Commercial Operations, Kreatech Biotechnology BV.

"It combines the advantage of QIAGEN's Phi29 driven Whole Genome DNA Amplification with the direct, non-enzymatic ULS labeling technology."

"With the unique combination of ULS and REPLI-g, customers looking for amplification of small input volumes of genomic DNA for microarray applications will now be able to amplify and label directly for arrayCGH analysis."

"This will be the first amplification and labeling kit available for arrayCGH analysis that enables customers to detect genetic aberrations without introducing bias during the amplification and labeling unlike conventional amplification and enzymatic labeling procedures."

Kreatech's ULS technology relies on the special binding properties of platinum to form coordinative bonds with biomolecules by binding to specific sites on DNA, RNA and proteins.

In this way, ULS acts as relatively simple "molecular glue" for DNA, RNA and proteins.

As a result of its versatility, customers can attach any kind of molecular label to ULS and then bind the labeled ULS complex to the biomolecules of interest.

Since the ULS technology does not require the enzymatic incorporation of modified nucleotides into RNA or DNA, it does not introduce bias.

Qiagen's REPLI-g^® technology is based on Multiple Displacement Amplification, which carries out isothermal genome amplification utilizing a uniquely processive DNA polymerase capable of replicating 100 kb without dissociating from the genomic DNA template.

The DNA polymerase has a proofreading activity to maintain high fidelity during replication and provide highly uniform "bias free" DNA amplification across the entire genome.