[DIYbio] Re: Genetic Engineering Basics

Honestly, it really depends on the gene. The biggest problem that can be found is posttranslational regulation and protein folding. Otherwise there are many many many many many genes that have been expressed across species. Usually people just take the gene of interest and clone it into the expression vector of the organism of choice and off they go.

The expression vector you are using doesn't seem to use any specific viral polymerase like most bacterial expression vectors. However, bacteria use a Shine-Dalgarno ribosome binding sequence which is different from the Kozak sequence used in eukaryotes. As someone else already said, they also use operons which mostly do not exist in Eukaryotes.

I would suggest finding a book on molecular biology protocols to learn the basics.

On Thursday, October 25, 2012 1:45:10 PM UTC-5, Chowe wrote:

Hello all,

I have a very basic understanding of genetic engineering, I understand how genes are extracted and transferred and expressed. My question is what is the barrier between expressing genes from one organism into another? From my understanding, the main problem in expressing the lux operon in plants is due to the genes originally being expressed in bacteria. But I have also read about bacteria genes being expressed in mammalian cells. Do all genes need to be codon optimized for any chance of being expressed? For example I have a pVIB vector, can I only express that vector in bacteria? Or can I express that vector in fruit flies as well? Lastly, what makes a plasmid backbone different from species to species that I can only express it in that specific species (like expressing a bacteria vector in a mammal cell)? Thanks

Corey