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Adenoviral Plasmids


Adenoviral vectors are widely used for gene delivery due to their high packaging capacity, high efficiency in driving strong transient gene expression in both dividing and non-dividing cells, and relative ease of large-scale production.

In order to produce recombinant adenoviral vectors, researchers generally need to use two plasmids:

  • A shuttle plasmid (or transfer plasmid) containing the transgene of interest, the ITRs, and homology regions for recombination with the adenoviral plasmid.
  • An adenoviral plasmid containing the rest of the adenoviral genome necessary for viral production and homology regions for recombination with the shuttle plasmid.

This collection provides a curated selection of popular plasmids that can be used for adenoviral vector production. Read our adenoviral vector guide for more information about adenoviral components, generations, viral production, and viral safety.

Shuttle Plasmids

Browse commonly used shuttle plasmids for adenoviral vector production. Want a plasmid with your gene of interest? Search our database for shuttle plasmids with inserts.

ID Plasmid Description PI
16402 pShuttle For production of viruses containing transgene under a chosen promoter Vogelstein
16403 pShuttle-CMV For production of viruses containing transgene under CMV promoter Vogelstein
16404 pAdTrack For production of GFP-trackable viruses containing transgene under a chosen promoter Vogelstein
16405 pAdTrack-CMV For production of GFP-trackable viruses containing transgene under CMV promoter Vogelstein
50957 RedTrackCMV For production of mRFP-trackable viruses containing transgene under CMV Bamburg
16407 pAdEasy 2-GFP beta-gal Test plasmid that contains β-gal and GFP and a ∼10 Kb genomic DNA stuffer Vogelstein
18703 pEZYshuttle Modified pShuttle-CMV (Addgene #16403) plasmid with Gateway cassette Zhang
50958 ShuttleNSE For production of viruses containing transgene under Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) promoter Bamburg
62621 pShuttle-CMV-F2A-T2A-Venus For production of viruses with multicistronic expression and a Venus tag Wang
50959 ShuttleMCP For production of viruses containing transgene under mouse cofilin promoter (MCP) Bamburg
62622 pShuttle-CMV-F2A-T2A For production of viruses with multicistronic expression Wang

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Adenoviral Plasmids

Browse commonly used adenoviral backbone plasmids for adenoviral vector production.

ID Plasmid / Kit Description PI
16400 pAdEasy-1 Adenoviral vector for use in AdEasy™ System Vogelstein
16401 pAdEasy-2 Adenoviral vector for use in AdEasy™ System, for use with large inserts Vogelstein
1000000176 AdenoBuilder Toolkit Plasmids containing modular inserts that span the human adenovirus serotype 5 (HAdV5) genome that can be assembled in a one-tube reaction Bunz

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Adenoviral Strains

Browse bacterial strains for adenoviral vector production.

ID Strain Description PI
16398 BJ5183 E. coli strain for recombination between shuttle plasmid and adenoviral plasmid Vogelstein
16399 AdEasier-1 BJ5183 derivative that contains the pAdEasy-1 (Addgene #16400) plasmid Vogelstein

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Other Resources

Resources on addgene.org

Protocols


Content last reviewed: 12 November 2025

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