A mutant Pfu DNA polymerase designed for advanced uracil-excision DNA engineering

Abstract

Abstract Background The combined use of restriction enzymes with PCR has revolutionized molecular cloning, but is inherently restricted by the content of the manipulated DNA sequences. Uracil-excision based cloning is ligase and sequence independent and allows seamless fusion of multiple DNA sequences in simple one-tube reactions, with higher accuracy than overlapping PCR. Results Here, the addition of a highly efficient DNA polymerase and a low-background-, large-insertion- compatible site-directed mutagenesis protocol is described, largely expanding the versatility of uracil-excision DNA engineering. Conclusions The different uracil-excision based molecular tools that have been developed in an open-source fashion, constitute a comprehensive, yet simple and inexpensive toolkit for any need in molecular cloning.