Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2026

08:25
Genetic Modification of Cyanobacteria by Conjugation Using the CyanoGate Modular Cloning Toolkit
Published on: October 31, 2019
Heterobifunctional modification of DNA for conjugation to solid surfaces
Hana I Lim1, Piercen M Oliver, Jutta Marzillier
1Chemistry Department, Lehigh University, 6 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA.
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
|April 28, 2010
Summary
Researchers developed a simple ligation-based method for heterobifunctional modification of DNA fragments. This technique enables efficient surface immobilization for biosensors and DNA sequencing applications.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Biotechnology
- Chemical Biology
Background:
- Biosensors, DNA arrays, and next-generation sequencing require DNA end modification.
- Surface immobilization of chemically modified DNA is crucial for sensing platforms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe a simple, efficient technique for heterobifunctional modification of double-stranded DNA fragments.
- To enable the creation of functionalized DNA for biosensor and sequencing applications.
Main Methods:
- Utilizes short synthetic adaptors with desired terminal functional groups.
- Employs optimized ligation conditions for selective modification.
- Includes an optional two-step PCR amplification for further product selection.
Main Results:
- Achieves high yields of target heterobifunctional DNA products.
- The modified DNA possesses two chemically active functional groups.
- Facilitates DNA strand immobilization for biosensor and sequencing chip surfaces.
Conclusions:
- The described method provides efficient heterobifunctional DNA modification.
- This technique is valuable for developing advanced biosensing and DNA sequencing technologies.
Related Concept Videos
Mechanism of Conjugation
Bacterial conjugation is a mechanism of horizontal gene transfer that enables the exchange of genetic material between bacterial cells through direct contact. This process is facilitated by a donor cell carrying a conjugative plasmid, which encodes genes necessary for pilus formation, DNA replication, and transfer. The conjugative plasmid plays a central role in initiating and executing the transfer of genetic material.The tra region of the conjugative plasmid encodes proteins responsible for...
Conjugation
Conjugation is a form of horizontal gene transfer that primarily occurs in bacteria and some archaea, promoting genetic diversity and adaptation. Bacteria can acquire resistance genes through conjugative plasmids, allowing them to survive antibiotic treatments that would otherwise be lethal. This process involves direct contact between cells through specialized structures such as the sex pilus and is mediated by conjugative plasmids, including the F (fertility) factor.Conjugation requires...
Conservative Site-specific Recombination and Phase Variation
Because the DNA segments are cut and reorganized in a direction-specific manner, site-specific recombination has emerged as an efficient genetic engineering technique. Flippase and Cyclization recombinases or Flp and Cre, respectively, are two members of the tyrosine recombinase family derived from bacteriophages, that are used to mediate site-specific DNA insertions, deletions, and targeted expression of proteins in mammalian cell lines.
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
Gene Conversion
Other than maintaining genome stability via DNA repair, homologous recombination plays an important role in diversifying the genome. In fact, the recombination of sequences forms the molecular basis of genomic evolution. Random and non-random permutations of genomic sequences create a library of new amalgamated sequences. These newly formed genomes can determine the fitness and survival of cells. In bacteria, homologous and non-homologous types of recombination lead to the evolution of new...
Transformation
Microbial communities are dynamic environments where cell lysis releases free DNA into the surroundings. Other cells can take up this extracellular DNA through a process known as transformation.When a cell incorporates this foreign DNA into its genome, resulting in genetic modification, the process is known as transformation. Cells capable of this process are termed competent. Competence can be natural, as observed in certain bacteria and archaea, or artificially induced in the...
Homologous Recombination
The basic reaction of homologous recombination (HR) involves two chromatids that contain DNA sequences sharing a significant stretch of identity. One of these sequences uses a strand from another as a template to synthesize DNA in an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. The final product is a novel amalgamation of the two substrates. To ensure an accurate recombination of sequences, HR is restricted to the S and G2 phases of the cell cycle. At these stages, the DNA has been replicated already and the...

