TOP10 Electrocomp™ Kit - FAQs

Q: I need to clone unmethylated DNA from a PCR reaction using a strain that has the hsdRMS mutation to avoid restriction after transformation. Is TOP10 suitable for my purposes?

Yes, TOP10 has the hsd RMS mutation, so this strain can be used to clone DNA from PCR reactions and other non-methylated sources. hsd RMS is a mutation in the system that E. coli uses to recognize foreign DNA. There are two parts to this system, methylation and restriction. E. coli methylate DNA at certain sequences, and if the DNA is not methylated at these sequences it will be recognized as foreign and restricted. Thus, if unmethylated DNA is transformed into E.coli that does not carry the hsd RMS genotype, it is recognized as foreign and enzymatically degraded.

查看更多产品信息 TOP10 Electrocomp™ Kit - FAQs (C66424)

3 个常见问题解答

Can I directly clone, propagate and express in BL21 without using TOP10?

It is imperative that a cloning strain such as TOP10 be used for characterization of the plasmid, propagation, and maintenance. BL21 cells are wild-type for endA and recA, which could result in poor miniprep quality and a greater chance of plasmid rearrangements due to recombination. In addition, BL21 cells contain the T7 RNA polymerase gene which is expressed at low levels even in the absence of inducer. If the gene is toxic to E. coli, plasmid instability and/or cell death can result.

I need to clone unmethylated DNA from a PCR reaction using a strain that has the hsdRMS mutation to avoid restriction after transformation. Is TOP10 suitable for my purposes?

Yes, TOP10 has the hsdRMS mutation, so this strain can be used to clone DNA from PCR reactions and other non-methylated sources. hsdRMS is a mutation in the system that E. coli uses to recognize foreign DNA. There are two parts to this system, methylation and restriction. E. coli methylate DNA at certain sequences, and if the DNA is not methylated at these sequences it will be recognized as foreign and restricted. Thus, if unmethylated DNA is transformed into E.coli that does not carry the hsdRMS genotype, it is recognized as foreign and enzymatically degraded.

Are TOP10 cells lacIq+ (plus) or lacIq- (minus)? That is, do they produce the lambda lacIq repressor protein?

TOP10 cells are lacIq- (minus). They do not have the lacIq gene and therefore do not produce the lacIq repressor protein. lacIq is most commonly found on an F' episome, and therefore is present in TOP10F', JM101, JM109, and NM522 strains.