NIF Data Spotlight: AddGene - What was that plasmid?

We have all been there before. Whether learning or re-learning the basic biology of DNA plasmids, figuring out the best plasmid for your line of research can be a difficult task.  This week's featured NIF database, AddGene, is greatly improving this process. AddGene maintains a high-quality plasmid repository which allows researchers to submit and deposit plasmids. These plasmids are then cataloged and linked to published articles so that scientists can easily find data and other information related to the plasmid of interest.

The “Brainbow” Nature article, “Transgenic strategies for combinatorial expression of fluorescent proteins in the nervous system” by Livet et. al. (2007) provides an illuminating example.  By exploiting the Cre-Lox recombination system, these researchers were able to induce stochastic expression of several fluorescent proteins across a population of neurons. As a result of the Brainbow transgenes, individual neurons and their projections become labeled with a distinct color.  This strategy, therefore, provides a novel way to visualize neuronal network architecture with precise detail and significantly improves computer-aided tracing of cellular interactions (see figure below).

Ready to add some color to your research? No problem with the help of AddGene! A quick search for “Brainbow” at Addgene provides all the information necessary to evaluate and purchase each of the Brainbow transgenes discussed in our article. At NIF, the AddGene database is a registered resource of the NIF data federation and search results can be found under Data Type > Plasmids. For additional information about NIF and AddGene, we have an example available at NIF Tutorials.

 

 

 

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The NIF Data Spotlight is a weekly blog post highlighting the databases, information, and resources curated by the Neuroscience Information Framework. For comments, questions or concerns feel free to drop us a line at curation@neuinfo.org.