# US 2008/0305142 A1 · Cell Free Biosynthesis of High-Quality Nucleic Acid and Uses Thereof

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- Number: US 2008/0305142 A1
- Document ID: US20080305142A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 11/792,800
- Filed: 2005-12-12
- Published: 2008-12-11
- Earliest claimed: 2004-12-11
- Assignees: CytoGenix, Inc.
- Inventors: Yin Chen; Frederic Kendirgi; Malcolm Skolnick
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20080305142A1

## CPC

- C12P 19/34: Polynucleotides, e.g. nucleic acids, oligoribonucleotides
- A61P 31/04: Antibacterial agents
- A61P 31/06: for tuberculosis
- A61P 31/10: Antimycotics
- A61P 31/12: Antivirals
- A61P 31/16: for influenza or rhinoviruses
- A61P 31/18: for HIV
- A61P 31/20: for DNA viruses
- A61P 31/22: for herpes viruses
- C12P: FERMENTATION OR ENZYME-USING PROCESSES TO SYNTHESISE A DESIRED CHEMICAL COMPOUND OR COMPOSITION OR TO SEPARATE OPTICAL ISOMERS FROM A RACEMIC MIXTURE {(brewing of beer C12C; producing vinegar C12J; producing specific peptides or proteins C07K; producing enzymes C12N9/00; DNA or RNA concerning genetic engineering, vectors, e.g. plasmids, or their isolation, preparation or purification C12N15/00; measuring or testing processes involving enzymes or microorganisms C12Q; measuring or testing processes involving nucleic acid amplification reactions C12Q1/6844; fermentation processes to form a food composition, A21 or A23; compounds in general, see the relevant compound class, e.g. C01, C07)}
- A61P: SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS

## Abstract

The invention provides an improved cell free amplification method capable of producing large quantities of therapeutic-quality nucleic acids and methods of using the synthesized nucleic acid in research, therapeutic and other applications—The methods combine several different state-of-the-art procedures and coordinate their applications to affordably synthesize nucleic acids for therapeutic purposes. It combines in vitro rolling circle amplification, high fidelity polymerases, high affinity primers, and streamlined template specifically designed for particular applications. For expression purposes, the templates contain an expression cassette including a eukaryotic promoter, the coding sequence for the gene of interest, and a eukaryotic termination sequence. Following amplification, concatamers are subsequently processed according to their intended use and may include: restriction enzyme digestion for the production of short expression cassettes (SECs); ligation steps to circularize the SEC (CNAs); and/or supercoiling steps to produce sCNAs. The final product contains nearly non-detectable levels of bacterial endotoxin.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A process for producing high-quality nucleic acid in a cell free system, comprising:
(a) combining a circular template in a reaction mixture with one or more primers, which are complementary to at least one strand of the circular template, to form a template-primer complex;
(b) incubating the template-primer complex with at least one high-fidelity nucleic acid polymerase to produce a concatamer comprising tandem units of the circular template; and
(c) cutting the concatamer into smaller fragments comprising at least one delivery unit having a sequence of interest.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, further comprising:
processing the smaller fragments by the following steps:
filling in or removing the ends of the smaller fragments;
ligating ends of the smaller fragments to produce circularized smaller fragments; and
supercoiling the circularized smaller fragments.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The process according to claim 2, the circularized smaller fragments are modified with one or more of the following modifications:
(i) modification at one end with a modified base, a fluorescent tag, a magnetic tag, a radiolabeled tag, or a bio-physical tag;
(ii) modification at an internal base by adding modified bases at step (b);
(iii) modification by adding one or more modified primers at step (a) or (b); and
(iv) conjugation with a nucleic acid, a protein, a peptide, a polymer, or a small molecule.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, the smaller fragments are modified with one or more of the following modifications:
(i) modification at one end with a modified base a fluorescent tag a magnetic tag, a radiolabeled tag, or a bio-physical tag;
(ii) modification at an internal base by adding modified bases at step (b);
(iii) modification by adding one or more modified primers at step (a) or (b); and
(iv) conjugation with a nucleic acid a protein, a peptide a polymer, or a small molecule.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the delivery unit comprises one or more expression cassettes.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the high-fidelity nucleic acid polymerase is at least one selected from the group consisting of Phi29 DNA polymerase, Phi29-like DNA polymerase, M2 DNA polymerase, B103 DNA polymerase, GA-1 DNA polymerase, phi-PRD1 polymerase, VENT DNA polymerase, DEEP VENT DNA polymerase, KlenTaq DNA polymerase, DNA polymerase I, Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I, DNA polymerase III, T3 DNA polymerase, T4 DNA polymerase, T5 DNA polymerase, T7 DNA polymerase, Bst polymerase, rBST DNA polymerase, N29 DNA polymerase, TopoTaq DNA polymerase, T7 RNA polymerase, SP6 RNA polymerase, T3 RNA polymerase and a derivative thereof.

### Claim 7

(canceled)

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the cutting of the concatamer is accomplished by using a restriction enzyme.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

A research, diagnostic, or therapeutic composition comprising the delivery unit prepared by the process according to claim 1.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

A method for preventing or treating a disease or genetic disorder of a human, animal or plant, comprising: administering an effective amount of the composition of claim 9 to a subject in need thereof.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method according to claim 10, wherein the disease is caused by a virus selected from HIV, influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, adenovirus, corona virus, herpes simplex virus, herpes zoster virus, papilloma virus, and rhino virus.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The method according to claim 10, wherein the disease is caused by bacteria, mycobacteria, eubacteria or fungi.

### Claim 13

(canceled)

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, wherein the composition is delivered by injection, an aerosol, an oral composition, eyedrops, suppositories, topical ointments, skin patches and soaks, surgically implanted devices, electroporation, pressure-mediated or hydrodynamic injection, ultrasonic nebulization, particle bombardment, or a long-term release system.

### Claim 15

An apparatus for producing high-quality nucleic acid, comprising:
a reaction vessel having at least one entry port and one exit port that before addition of reaction reagents, is clean, sterile and free of contaminating nucleic acid sequences;
an input device attached to the entry port and which feeds at least one outside component from an outside holding chamber to the reaction vessel;
at least one outside holding chamber connected to the input device;
a means for pumping an outside component from the holding chamber, through the input device, into the reaction vessel;
an export device attached to the exit port of the reaction vessel;
at least one outside receiving chamber connected to the export device;
a means for regulating temperature of the reaction vessel;
a means for monitoring and controlling the progress of a reaction mixture within the reaction vessel; and
a means for mixing the reaction mixture.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the reaction vessel is made of either a flexible material wherein the means for mixing is applied to the outside of the vessel or a hardened pre-formed material wherein the means for mixing is applied inside the vessel.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The apparatus of claims 15 further comprising a programmable computer to automate or remotely monitor, adjust or control one or more of the following: reaction viscosity, nucleic acid concentration, solution turbidity, conductivity, pH, temperature, protein content, endotoxin, bioburden, chemical contaminants, temperature, timing, addition of reagents, mixing, and dispensing of the reaction mixture.

### Claim 18

(canceled)

### Claim 19

(canceled)

### Claim 20

(canceled)

### Claim 21 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the circular template is devoid of one or more of: a plasmid replication sequence, a selection sequence, or a marker sequence

### Claim 22 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, further comprising:
purifying the smaller fragments to meet one or more of the following criteria: level of genomic DNA is <10 ng (based on a human dose), level of RNA is non-detectable on 0.8% agarose gel (based on a human dose), level of bacterial protein is <10 ng (based on a human dose), level of bacterial endotoxin is <1 Unit/kg body weight or <0.1 EU/μg DNA, or is sterile.

### Claim 23 (depends on 1)

A method for inducing immunity in a human or an animal, comprising immunizing the human or animal with a composition comprising the smaller fragments prepared by the process of claim 1.

### Claim 24 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, further comprising addition of one or more of the following proteins: MutS, a single-stranded binding protein, an additional polymerase.

### Claim 25 (depends on 9)

The composition of claim 9, wherein the smaller fragments comprise one or more sequences derived from B-galactosidase, luciferase, HIV gp160 envelope protein, hepatitis B small surface antigen, influenza hemaglutinin, influenza neuraminidase, or a cytokine.
