Development of a new transformation method of Bacillus subtilis with chemically modified DNA

• Project/Area Number: 16K14657
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: System genome science
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: Tsuge Kenji 神戸大学, 科学技術イノベーション研究科, 特命准教授 (70399690)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
• Keywords: 化学修飾DNA / 枯草菌 / 形質転換 / ゲノムデザイン学 / OGAB法 / 遺伝子集積 / 長鎖DNA / OGAB

Outline of Final Research Achievements

For the purpose of increasing transformation efficiency of Bacillus subtilis for long DNA, we tried to develop a new transformation system that uses chemically modified DNA. We constructed and tested B. subtilis strains that are inserted protein unit that recognizes chemically modified DNA into genes responsible for natural transformation. The resulted strains, however, showed same transformation efficiency for chemically modified DNA with that for natural DNA. Thus we couldn’t get evidence that indicates our developed strains are able to specifically incorporate chemically modified DNA within this study period.