Bacterial Packaging Cell Line for Phagemid Vectors

Abstract
The use of helper phage in phage display results in phagemid particles which are both genetically and phenotypically heterogenous. This invention eliminates the use of helper phage by using “bacterial packaging cell lines” which contain M13 based helper plasmids. These can package phagemid particles as efficiently as helper phage, but without helper phage contamination, resulting in genetically pure phagemid particle preparations. Furthermore, by using constructs differing in the form of g3 they contain, the display from a single library can be modulated between monovalent, phagemid-like, display to multivalent, phage-like, display levels without any further engineering of the library. These plasmids will allow the elimination of helper phage from selection protocols, facilitating automation, the optimization of selection by matching display levels to diversity, and the effective use of packaged phagemid particles as means to transfer genetic information at an efficiency approaching 100%. A paper describing this technology has been published online in Nucleic Acid Research, 2006 34(21): e145 and is available at http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/ by searching under helper phage.

Application(s)

• Phage display
• Creation of single stranded phagemid DNA
• Transferring genetic information between bacteria by infection

Advantages

• Eliminates contamination and timing issues associated with the need to add helper phage
• Allows creation of phagemid particles with a range of display levels

IP Status: Available both Exclusively and Non Exclusively

Commercialization Strategy: We are offering licenses in two categories:  (i) an exclusive license to a company that will distribute the bacterial packaging cell lines individually or in kit form and (ii) nonexclusive licenses to companies that will to use the technology in providing services.

Specifie licensing terms and conditions will be negotiated on a case by case basis.  For information on our licensing practices see http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/tt/license/.

Reference Number: 705

S Number: DOE reference no.(s): 104,991

Patents & Applications:
Application(s) Filed

Posted: 06-25-2008

Contact
David Hadley
Technology Transfer Division
Los Alamos National Laboratory
P.O. Box 1663, MailStop C334
(505) 667-7539
dhadley@lanl.gov