Standardizing cassette-based deep mutagenesis by Golden Gate assembly

Biotechnol Bioeng. 2024 Jan;121(1):281-290. doi: 10.1002/bit.28564. Epub 2023 Sep 26.

Abstract

Protocols for the construction of large, deeply mutagenized protein encoding libraries via Golden Gate assembly of synthetic DNA cassettes employ disparate, system-specific methodology. Here we present a standardized Golden Gate method for building user-defined libraries. We demonstrate that a 25 μL reaction, using 40 fmol of input DNA, can generate a library on the order of 1 × 106 members and that reaction volume or input DNA concentration can be scaled up with no losses in transformation efficiency. Such libraries can be constructed from dsDNA cassettes generated either by degenerate oligonucleotides or oligo pools. We demonstrate its real-world effectiveness by building custom, user-defined libraries on the order of 104 -107 unique protein encoding variants for two orthogonal protein engineering systems. We include a detailed protocol and provide several general-use destination vectors.

Keywords: Golden Gate; cassettes; deep mutagenesis; libraries; oligo pools; protein engineering.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Cloning, Molecular
  • DNA* / metabolism
  • Gene Library
  • Genetic Vectors
  • Mutagenesis
  • Protein Engineering
  • Synthetic Biology* / methods

Substances

  • DNA