Open Biosystems Launches ORFeome Collaboration Clones

Open Biosystems, Inc. has announced the initial release of ORFeome Collaboration Clones. These are sequence-verified human open reading frames (ORFs) drawn from a variety of sources, including principally the Dana Farber Cancer Institute-Center for Cancer Systems Biology.

Other contributors to this worldwide collaboration include the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC), the IMAGE Consortium, and five other genomics organizations. The ultimate goal of the ORFeome Collaboration is to offer a sequence-verified ORF clone for every known human gene.

ORFeome Collaboration Clones consist of ORF sequences subcloned into Gateway™ recombinational entry vectors for easy transfer into a wide range of expression vectors. The absence of untranslated regions (UTRs) enables the expression of the ORF as a fusion with autofluorescent proteins or other protein tags.

This opens up a wide spectrum of gene analysis applications, including gain-of-function assays, cell localization, and protein-protein interaction assays. Because ORFeome Collaboration Clones have been fully sequenced, experimental artifacts stemming from PCR mutations are entirely avoided.

ORFeome Collaboration Clones are provided as glycerol stocks in an E. coli host. They may be found individually using a variety of search terms with the Open Biosytems online gene search tool or they may be ordered by the plate.

A closely related product is the newly released Human LentiORF–Druggable Set in which ORFs corresponding to druggable genes have been subcloned into lentiviral mammalian expression vectors.

“Our mission at Open Biosystems is to make gene resources developed by organizations such as the MGC and the ORFeome Collaboration easily available to the research community” said Paul Todd, Marketing Manager for Genomics. “We do this by having an easy-to-use online gene search tool, competitive prices, fast delivery, and expert technical support.”