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Adenovirus Plasmids


Adenoviruses are a class of medium-sized, non-enveloped, double-stranded DNA viruses known to cause mild to severe respiratory disease in humans. Advantages of adenoviruses in research include their large packaging capacity (>8 kb), high titers, and high levels of transgene expression. Additionally, these viruses are able to target a broad range of dividing and non-dividing cell types with almost 100% efficiency. Unlike lentiviruses or other retroviruses, adenoviruses do not integrate into the host genome. Disadvantages of adenoviruses include transient transgene expression, as well as the substantial immune response induced by the viral capsid.

Adenoviruses can be produced by several methods, the most common of which involves homologous recombination of adenovirus plasmids in either mammalian cells or microorganisms, including bacteria and yeast. Two plasmids, termed a shuttle plasmid and an adenoviral (also called backbone) plasmid, are recombined into a DNA molecule that incorporates sequences from both plasmids. This DNA molecule can then be transfected into mammalian packaging cell lines to generate adenovirus particles.

Read our Adenoviral Guide for more information about:

  • Adenoviral components
  • Adenoviral plasmid construction
  • Frequently asked questions about adenovirus
  • Glossary of commonly used adenovirus terms

Adenoviral Strains

Bacterial strains for generating adenovirus.

   ID Strain Description PI
16398 BJ5183 Strain for recombination between shuttle plasmid and adenoviral plasmid Vogelstein
16399 AdEasier-1 BJ5183 derivative that contains AdEasy-1™ plasmid Vogelstein

Adenoviral Plasmids

Common shuttle and adenoviral plasmids. Want an adenoviral plasmid with your gene of interest? Search our database for adenoviral transfer plasmids that have inserts.

   ID Plasmid Type Description PI
16400 pAdEasy-1 Adenoviral For recombining shuttle plasmids Vogelstein
16401 pAdEasy-2 Adenoviral For recombining shuttle plasmids; for use with large inserts Vogelstein
179201 pAd5-B6 ∆E3-GFP Adenoviral A block for the AdenoBuilder genome assembly system. Block 6 with deletion in E3 and insertion of GFP expression cassette. Bunz
179202 pAd5-B6/7 ∆E3-GFP Adenoviral A block for the AdenoBuilder genome assembly system; consolidates the regions present in pAd5-B6 ∆E3-GFP and pAd5-B7. Bunz
179203 pAd5-B1-deltaE1-GFP Adenoviral A block for the AdenoBuilder genome assembly system. Block 1 with deletion in E1 and insertion of GFP expression cassette. Bunz
16402 pShuttle Shuttle For production of viruses containing transgene under a chosen promoter Vogelstein
16403 pShuttle-CMV Shuttle For production of viruses containing transgene under CMV promoter Vogelstein
16404 pAdTrack Shuttle For production of GFP-trackable viruses containing transgene under a chosen promoter Vogelstein
16405 pAdTrack-CMV Shuttle For production of GFP-trackable viruses containing transgene under CMV promoter Vogelstein
16407 pAdEasy 2-GFP beta-gal Shuttle Test plasmid that contains β-gal and GFP; contains ∼10Kb genomic DNA stuffer Vogelstein
18703 pEZYshuttle Shuttle Modified pShuttle-CMV plasmid with Gateway cassette; See article for additional plasmids Zhang
50957 RedTrackCMV Shuttle For production of mRFP-trackable viruses containing transgene under CMV Bamburg
50958 ShuttleNSE Shuttle For production of viruses containing transgene under Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) promoter Bamburg
50959 ShuttleMCP Shuttle For production of viruses containing transgene under mouse cofilin promoter (MCP) Bamburg
62621 pShuttle-CMV-F2A-T2A-Venus Shuttle For production of viruses with multicistronic expression + Venus tag; See plasmid 62622 for plasmid without Venus Wang

Adenoviral Kits

Plasmids containing modular inserts that span the human adenovirus serotype 5 (HAdV5) genome that can be assembled in a one-tube reaction.

ID Kit Description PI
1000000176 AdenoBuilder toolkit Plasmids contain modular inserts for seamless assembly of multiple mutations, alterations, or transgene insertions into single full-length adenovirus genomes Bunz

Do you have suggestions for other plasmids that should be added to this list?

Fill out our Suggest a Plasmid form or e-mail [email protected] to help us improve this resource!