Technology

Long a model for studies in eukaryotic cell and molecular biology, Tetrahymena combines ease of growth with facile genetics in a single-celled organism with a complexity at the cellular level. Patent-pending technologies for transformation and inducible, high-level expression of heterologous genes in the Tetrahymena system have allowed Tetragenetics to produce foreign membrane proteins in these cells at theoretical maximal yields on the order of grams/liter of culture.

Publications

The selected publications provide further technical background on the advanced recombinant protein expression system that we are developing at Tetragenetics:

Clark TG, Lin TL, Jackwood DA, Sherrill J, Lin YK, Dickerson HW. 1999. The gene for an abundant parasite coat protein predicts tandemly repetitive metal binding domains. GENE 229 (1-2): 91-100.

Lin YK, Cheng G, Wang XT, Clark TG. 2002. The use of synthetic genes for the expression of ciliate proteins in heterologous systems. GENE 288 (1-2): 85-94.

Gaertig J, Gao Y, Tishgarten T, Clark TG, Dickerson HW. 1999. Surface display of a parasite antigen in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila. NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY 17 (5): 462-465.

Relevant Websites

Tetrahymena Genome Project

Institute for Biotechnology and Life Science Technologies, Cornell University

Gorovsky Lab