Samplix has launched a new service to inject transparency into today’s cutting-edge gene editing technology, CRISPR. The service team receives, handles and manages samples of engineered genomes. Using Xdrop Indirect Sequence Capture, they enrich long DNA fragments that contain a carefully designed Detection Sequence placed 5-10kb from the CRISPR edited site. They then sequence the enriched DNA as long reads on the Oxford Nanopore sequencer and as short reads on an Illumina platform to reconstruct in detail any structural rearrangements, SNPs or other unintended modifications.
Xdrop is Samplix’ proprietary technology to enrich genomic regions longer than 100kb from as little as 1ng genomic DNA and with single-molecule resolution. Unlike other target enrichment methods, Xdrop requires knowledge of only a short sequence within or flanking the target region for efficient target selection. Following targeted selection, multiple displacement amplification is applied to single DNA molecules compartmentalized in droplets. This ensures unbiased amplification of large DNA fragments that are representative of the target variation in the original sample.
“Our R&D team was able to demonstrate that Xdrop can characterise unintended deletions and rearrangements occurring during CRISPR editing that go undetected with commonly used validation methods. We felt it was important to help researchers avoid methodological traps that might hide the broader outcome of their editing. Our new services bring that transparency to any lab,” explains VP Commercial Operations Henrik Pfundheller.
