QIAgenes Expression Kits Now Available for Mammalian and Insect Cells

With these new kits, QIAGEN and its collaboration partner GENEART are responding to researchers’ desire for an alternative to protein production using E. coli cells.

“With the expansion of QIAgenes Expression Kits to include expression constructs that can be transfected into insect or mammalian cells, we are addressing a significant unmet customer need,” says Dr. Ute Boronowsky, Global Product Manager at QIAGEN. “Since the launch of our expression kits for use in E. coli cells in May, we have received a high number of requests for these two additional options. Customer service is a core commitment of QIAGEN and GENEART, and we are proud that we have been able to respond to this need so quickly.” 

QIAgenes are available through the company’s Web portal “GeneGlobe,” the only database on the market that includes all protein-coding genes. Customers simply choose the gene/protein of interest and order the corresponding plasmid. QIAgenes Expression Kits use synthetic complementary DNA (cDNA) with a human genome sequence optimized for expression in E. coli, insect or mammalian cells. This optimized sequence increases protein yields as much as 50-fold and produces expression success rates as high as 90 percent. 

"Low success rates together with limited yields in recombinant protein expression have always been a major challenge for scientists," says Prof. Dr. Ralf Wagner, CEO of GENEART. "With GENEART´s proprietary GeneOptimizer^® and GeneAssembler^® technology we are able to overcome this bottleneck by generating and synthesizing optimized gene sequences for best expression results.”

QIAgenes Expression Kits include ready-to-go vectors, but also are flexible enough to express only parts of a gene, or to use N-terminal His-tag if needed. In addition, they are compatible with QIAGEN protein kits, including all Ni-NTA products for His-tag-based purification.