The Linkers Collection

The Linkers Collection enables high-fidelity (~97%) assembly of many DNA parts (24) at once with GoldenGate assembly. Not only can you assemble transcriptional units, you can also assemble operons, and even reverse directionality in multi-gene constructs, all compatible with the widely used MoClo DNA standard.

There have been many standard methods for assemblying DNA, with the most notable being the BioBrick assembly method being developed in 2003. However, BioBrick assembly could only assemble 2 DNA parts at once, and therefore limited the amount of assembly that one could do in a short amount of time. In 2008, a new method called GoldenGate assembly was developed that overcame limitations of BioBrick assembly, allowing many fragments to be put together at once in a single tube. In 2011, this GoldenGate assembly was standardized with the MoClo assembly method.

BioBrick assembly

GoldenGate assembly

MoClo assembly

The Linkers Collection is a collection of linkers for MoClo assembly. These Linkers have 2 special attributes:

A good introduction to the idea of linkers

Empirical data on BsaI overhang assembly efficiency

Methyltransferases can block BsaI cutting

Examples

In the future, I would like visual examples for all of the following, but for now these text descriptions are enough (KG, 18 Dec 2020).

Level 1 Assembly

Linkers can be used in Level 1 assmblies as follows:

TU assembly

TU assembly:
1 [linker forward] 2 [promoter] 3 [RBS] 4 [CDS] 5 [terminator] 6 [linker reverse] 7... [vector] ...24

Each independent TU can then be combined based off of their forward and reverse linkers.

Operon assembly

Operon assembly (first):
1 [linker forward] 2 [promoter] 3 [RBS] 4 [CDS] 5 [linker reverse] 7... [vector] ...24

Operon assembly (mid):
1 [linker forward] 3 [RBS] 4 [CDS] 5 [linker reverse] 7... [vector] ...24

Operon assembly (last):
1 [linker forward] 3 [RBS] 4 [CDS] 5 [terminator] 6 [linker reverse] 7... [vector] ...24

The first operon component, X number of mid operon components, and the last operon component can then be combined based off of their forward and reverse linkers.

Level X Assembly

Linkers can also be used to do more funky assemblies:

Backbone part construction

1 [linker forward (7)] 2 [promoter] 3 [RBS] 4 [Kanamycin resistance coding sequence] 5 [terminator] 6 [linker reverse (8)] 7 [negative selection marker] 8... [vector] ...24
After assembly:
7 [Kanamycin resistance] 8

Reversing during construction

Simplified transcription unit now represented by `-->`

1( ----> )2 + -3( --> )-2 + 3( -> )4 = ( ----> <-- -> )

FAQ

(Disclaimer - I don't know if these are the actual questions which would be frequently asked)

How were the linkers designed?

Original code can be found here.

Mature and maintained code can be found here.

I took empirical efficiencies of GoldenGate assemblies from "Enabling one-pot Golden Gate assemblies of unprecedented complexity using data-optimized assembly design". I designed a simple program to find the most efficient overhangs. I initialized with the MoClo set of overhangs and then iterated to find the next overhang which gave the highest fidelity of assembly.

Datasheet supplemental 1 used from "Enabling one-pot Golden Gate assemblies of unprecedented complexity using data-optimized assembly design"

What are linkers

When building a construct using GoldenGate, simply ligate linkers between your vector and your genes during a GoldenGate reaction to enable use of that gene in multi-gene constructs.

Typically, you will do an assembly reaction (also known as a level 1 cloning reaction in MoClo lingo) to give context to your gene. For example, you may have a protein called GFP that you wish to express. In this case, you would do a level 1 cloning reaction to contextualize GFP with a proper promoter and terminator for your target organism to make a transcriptional unit (TU). In that reaction, you may have to add linkers to connect your construct into the vector it belongs in.

Afterwards, you can combine the GFP transcriptional unit to up to 24 other constructs with clever usage of linkers. To answer specifically which ones to use and when, read below.

What linkers are included in the Linkers Collection?

The "Linkers in Collection" table has all 192 linkers that are included in this collection. There are 96 linkers for building independent transcriptional units with single proteins and 96 linkers for building operons. For both of those categories, linkers are split into 48 prefix and 48 suffix linkers (for the prefix + suffix of any given construct). Those 48 linkers are broken into 24 positive and 24 negative linkers. The positive linkers are used for constructing genes in the forward direction, and negative linkers are used to construct genes in the reverse direction.

Each overhang is assigned a number. The reverse complement of each overhang is represented as the negative version of its number, which is also how we are able to reverse constructs.

Linkers are named with a 3 number + 1 letter scheme, separated by underscores ( _ ) in the format X_X_XY. The first 2 numbers describe the two overhangs which the linker itself will be cut out with, the third number describes the overhang which the linker will introduce to the construct, and the final letter (F or R) describes the direction, forward or reverse. After a GoldenGate assembly and transformation, anything between the forward and reverse linkers can be cut out with BsaI and used in another assembly.

How can you use BsaI in two reactions? Wouldn't the linker be cut during the first?

The 3rd internal BsaI site is actually CCGGTCTC instead of only GGTCTC. While BsaI will cut at both sequences, you can methylate CCGG with HpaII or MspI methyltransferases and prevent the cutting at CCGGTCTC sites. After assembly and transformation, the CCGGTCTC site will no longer be replicated in the presence of HpaII or MspI, therefore allowing it to be cut.

HpaII or MspI methyltransferases can block BsaI

To initially get methylation at the CCGG sites, you either need to express HpaII methyltransferase within the cell line containing the linker plasmids, methylate using purified enzymes, or synthesize the linkers with methylation. While both MspI and HpaII can methylate and block binding of BsaI, HpaII is a better choice since it can be deactivated easily with heat.

HpaII methyltransferase purified from NEB

Overhang table

(Originally markdown table)

| Name | Sequence | 
| - | - |
| 1 | AAAA |
| -1 | TTTT |
| 2 | GGAG |
| -2 | CTCC |
| 3 | TACT |
| -3 | AGTA |
| 4 | AATG |
| -4 | CATT |
| 5 | GCTT |
| -5 | AAGC |
| 6 | CGCT |
| -6 | AGCG |
| 7 | ATAG |
| -7 | CTAT |
| 8 | ATGA |
| -8 | TCAT |
| 9 | AGAC |
| -9 | GTCT |
| 10 | AGGT |
| -10 | ACCT |
| 11 | ACAA |
| -11 | TTGT |
| 12 | ACTC |
| -12 | GAGT |
| 13 | TAAC |
| -13 | GTTA |
| 14 | TAGA |
| -14 | TCTA |
| 15 | TTCA |
| -15 | TGAA |
| 16 | TGTG |
| -16 | CACA |
| 17 | TCGG |
| -17 | CCGA |
| 18 | TCCC |
| -18 | GGGA |
| 19 | GACC |
| -19 | GGTC |
| 20 | GCCG |
| -20 | CGGC |
| 21 | CAAG |
| -21 | CTTG |
| 22 | GTGG |
| -22 | CCAC |
| 23 | TTTC |
| -23 | GAAA |
| 24 | TACG |
| -24 | CGTA |

Linkers in Collection

(Originally markdown tables)

| Name |
| - |
| 1_2_1F |
| 1_2_-1F |
| 1_2_2F |
| 1_2_-2F |
| 1_2_3F |
| 1_2_-3F |
| 1_2_4F |
| 1_2_-4F |
| 1_2_5F |
| 1_2_-5F |
| 1_2_6F |
| 1_2_-6F |
| 1_2_7F |
| 1_2_-7F |
| 1_2_8F |
| 1_2_-8F |
| 1_2_9F |
| 1_2_-9F |
| 1_2_10F |
| 1_2_-10F |
| 1_2_11F |
| 1_2_-11F |
| 1_2_12F |
| 1_2_-12F |
| 1_2_13F |
| 1_2_-13F |
| 1_2_14F |
| 1_2_-14F |
| 1_2_15F |
| 1_2_-15F |
| 1_2_16F |
| 1_2_-16F |
| 1_2_17F |
| 1_2_-17F |
| 1_2_18F |
| 1_2_-18F |
| 1_2_19F |
| 1_2_-19F |
| 1_2_20F |
| 1_2_-20F |
| 1_2_21F |
| 1_2_-21F |
| 1_2_22F |
| 1_2_-22F |
| 1_2_23F |
| 1_2_-23F |
| 1_2_24F |
| 1_2_-24F |
| 1_3_1F |
| 1_3_-1F |
| 1_3_2F |
| 1_3_-2F |
| 1_3_3F |
| 1_3_-3F |
| 1_3_4F |
| 1_3_-4F |
| 1_3_5F |
| 1_3_-5F |
| 1_3_6F |
| 1_3_-6F |
| 1_3_7F |
| 1_3_-7F |
| 1_3_8F |
| 1_3_-8F |
| 1_3_9F |
| 1_3_-9F |
| 1_3_10F |
| 1_3_-10F |
| 1_3_11F |
| 1_3_-11F |
| 1_3_12F |
| 1_3_-12F |
| 1_3_13F |
| 1_3_-13F |
| 1_3_14F |
| 1_3_-14F |
| 1_3_15F |
| 1_3_-15F |
| 1_3_16F |
| 1_3_-16F |
| 1_3_17F |
| 1_3_-17F |
| 1_3_18F |
| 1_3_-18F |
| 1_3_19F |
| 1_3_-19F |
| 1_3_20F |
| 1_3_-20F |
| 1_3_21F |
| 1_3_-21F |
| 1_3_22F |
| 1_3_-22F |
| 1_3_23F |
| 1_3_-23F |
| 1_3_24F |
| 1_3_-24F |
| 6_7_1R |
| 6_7_-1R |
| 6_7_2R |
| 6_7_-2R |
| 6_7_3R |
| 6_7_-3R |
| 6_7_4R |
| 6_7_-4R |
| 6_7_5R |
| 6_7_-5R |
| 6_7_6R |
| 6_7_-6R |
| 6_7_7R |
| 6_7_-7R |
| 6_7_8R |
| 6_7_-8R |
| 6_7_9R |
| 6_7_-9R |
| 6_7_10R |
| 6_7_-10R |
| 6_7_11R |
| 6_7_-11R |
| 6_7_12R |
| 6_7_-12R |
| 6_7_13R |
| 6_7_-13R |
| 6_7_14R |
| 6_7_-14R |
| 6_7_15R |
| 6_7_-15R |
| 6_7_16R |
| 6_7_-16R |
| 6_7_17R |
| 6_7_-17R |
| 6_7_18R |
| 6_7_-18R |
| 6_7_19R |
| 6_7_-19R |
| 6_7_20R |
| 6_7_-20R |
| 6_7_21R |
| 6_7_-21R |
| 6_7_22R |
| 6_7_-22R |
| 6_7_23R |
| 6_7_-23R |
| 6_7_24R |
| 6_7_-24R |
| 5_7_1R |
| 5_7_-1R |
| 5_7_2R |
| 5_7_-2R |
| 5_7_3R |
| 5_7_-3R |
| 5_7_4R |
| 5_7_-4R |
| 5_7_5R |
| 5_7_-5R |
| 5_7_6R |
| 5_7_-6R |
| 5_7_7R |
| 5_7_-7R |
| 5_7_8R |
| 5_7_-8R |
| 5_7_9R |
| 5_7_-9R |
| 5_7_10R |
| 5_7_-10R |
| 5_7_11R |
| 5_7_-11R |
| 5_7_12R |
| 5_7_-12R |
| 5_7_13R |
| 5_7_-13R |
| 5_7_14R |
| 5_7_-14R |
| 5_7_15R |
| 5_7_-15R |
| 5_7_16R |
| 5_7_-16R |
| 5_7_17R |
| 5_7_-17R |
| 5_7_18R |
| 5_7_-18R |
| 5_7_19R |
| 5_7_-19R |
| 5_7_20R |
| 5_7_-20R |
| 5_7_21R |
| 5_7_-21R |
| 5_7_22R |
| 5_7_-22R |
| 5_7_23R |
| 5_7_-23R |
| 5_7_24R |
| 5_7_-24R |

Keoni Gandall