TnX: Breaking the Transposase Bias
Leading the Way in Transposase Technology
seqWell is dedicated to advancing transposases, a group of DNA-modifying enzymes that power a variety of molecular biology applications including NGS library preparation. Transposases are extremely versatile enzymes that can simultaneously cleave DNA and attach short nucleic acid sequences. In the case of NGS applications, it can fragment DNA and add sequence adapters in a single enzymatic reaction – processes which are fundamental to converting sample DNA into sequence-ready libraries. This combined DNA fragmentation and addition of sequencing adapters or ‘tags’ is referred to as tagmentation.
Traditional tagmentation-based assays used for NGS library preparation harness the Tn5 transposase and continue to be used today because of the significant benefits they offer when compared with other library preparation methods including workflow speed, simplicity, and scalability which accelerate high throughput sequencing applications such as plasmid and amplicon sequencing, synthetic construct verification, gene editing quality control, and microbial or low pass whole genome sequencing.
TnX, Next-generation Transposase: Engineered for Performance
seqWell used fit-for-purpose engineering to develop the next-generation transposase, called TnX, that is optimized for use in NGS library preparation. Over 20 cycles of directed evolution (in silico engineering, automated library synthesis, high throughput variant expression, high throughput screening & sequence analysis, and data mining & machine learning) were conducted to enhance three key enzyme attributes – activity, robustness, and insertion bias.
Better Transposase, Better Libraries, Better NGS
TnX has all the library preparation workflow benefits of transposases as well as improved performance when compared with Tn5 – higher activity, enhanced robustness and reduced insertion bias. One key benefit of these enhancements is being able to more faithfully represent the sequence information that’s in a DNA sample-of-interest.
Listen to seqWell’s CSO & co-founder, Joe Mellor, introduce TnX!
Products Powered by TnX
While the performance of the transposase enzyme was enhanced through protein engineering, TnX maintained the same payload sequences (mosaic ends) as Tn5 allowing for simplified conversion of current transposase assays. In addition, seqWell has updated its product portfolio to include custom reagents and off-the-shelf library preparation kits that contain TnX.
- Tagify Custom-loaded Transposase: TnX loaded with universal adapters, i5/i7 adapters, or customer-specified oligos – used for sensitive targeted gene editing QC analysis assays, as well as other custom assays.
- ExpressPlex 2.0 Library Preparation kit: Ready-to-use, one-step library preparation kit for plasmid, amplicon and synthetic construct sequencing. TnX enables reduced bias and uniform coverage in a rapid (~100 min) workflow with auto‑normalization and high multiplexing formats (96‑ or 384‑well, up to 6,144 samples).
- MosaiX (early access): Built around seqWell’s directional tagmentation chemistry powered by TnX, MosaiX creates high-complexity libraries across demanding workflows like human WGS/WES. It offers a streamlined ~90 min protocol with ~35 min hands‑on time and enhanced performance compared to bead-linked Tn5-based methods
TnX…. don’t be so biased!
A major benefit of utilizing transposase enzymes in NGS assays is workflow simplicity – the ability to fragment and adapt DNA in a single molecular step. seqWell’s engineered TnX enzyme, with unrivaled improvements such as lower bias, improved activity and enhanced robustness, promises to unlock a new of level of performance for the next generation of sequencing assays.