IP Library Patent Application 18390303
Patent Application
App. No. 18/390,303

DUPLEX-SPECIFIC DNASES

Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US None
App. No.
18/390,303
Abstract

The present disclosure relates, according to some embodiments, to enzymes, systems, compositions, methods, apparatus, and workflows for selectively cutting, cleaving, digesting and/or hydrolyzing duplex DNA strands or the DNA strand of a DNA/RNA hybrid.

Claims (59)

1 . An engineered dsDNase having an amino acid sequence that is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, SEQ ID NO:9, SEQ ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO: 11, SEQ ID NO:12, or SEQ ID NO:13.

2 . An engineered dsDNase according to claim 1 , wherein the engineered dsDNase cleaves each strand of a DNA:DNA duplex and only the DNA strand of a DNA:RNA heteroduplex and does not cleave ssDNA.

3 . An engineered dsDNase according to claim 2 , wherein the engineered dsDNase comprises one or more bound magnesium cations.

4 . An engineered dsDNase according to claim 1 , wherein the amino acid sequence is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO:2.

5 . An engineered dsDNase according to claim 1 , wherein the dsDNase in the presence of 50 mM NaCl has at least 50% of its peak activity in the absence of NaCl.

6 . An engineered dsDNase according to claim 1 , wherein the dsDNase in the presence of 100 mM NaCl has at least 20% of its peak activity in the absence of NaCl.

7 . A composition comprising an engineered dsDNase according to claim 1 and one or more salts, wherein the composition has a total salt concentration of at least 50 mM.

8 . A composition comprising an engineered dsDNase according to claim 1 and one or more DNA hydrolysis products.

9 . A composition according to claim 8 further comprising one or more enzymes other than the dsDNase, one or more buffering agents, one or more detergents, one or more glass-forming agents, one or more salts, one or more stabilizers, one or more DNA:DNA duplexes, one or more DNA:RNA duplexes, or combinations thereof.

10 . A fusion protein comprising a single polypeptide chain, the single peptide chain comprising:

(a) a dsDNase according to claim 1 ; and

(b) at least one of an affinity tag, a secretion signal, and a linker.

11 . An engineered dsDNase comprising an amino acid sequence at least 97% identical to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 19, SEQ ID NO: 28, or SEQ ID NO: 29.

12 . An engineered dsDNase according to claim 11 , wherein the amino acid sequence is identical to SEQ ID NO:19, SEQ ID NO: 28, or SEQ ID NO: 29.

13 . A method for depleting a target sequence from a population of duplex DNA molecules, the population comprising at least one copy of a DNA strand having the target sequence, the method comprising:

(a) hybridizing to the at least one strand a polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence to form a target duplex, and

(b) contacting the target duplex with a dsDNase according to claim 1 to form a target sequence depleted population of duplex DNA molecules and DNA hydrolysis products.

14 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein the polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence is an oligonucleotide probe.

15 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein the polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence comprises RNA.

16 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein the polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence comprises DNA.

17 . A method according to claim 16 , wherein the polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence is a hairpin probe comprising, in a 5′ to 3′ direction, a fluorophore, a first hairpin stem sequence, the sequence complementary to the target sequence, a second hairpin stem sequence complementary to the first hairpin stem sequence, and a quencher corresponding to the fluorophore.

18 . A method according to claim 17 , wherein the DNA hydrolysis products comprise the fluorophore and the quencher, wherein the fluorophore is sufficiently separated from the quencher to be fluorescently active.

19 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein the target sequence is a repetitive sequence present in the population of duplex DNA molecules.

20 . A method according to claim 19 , wherein (a) further comprises denaturing and reannealing the population of duplex DNA molecules and each target duplex comprises hybridized repetitive sequences.

21 . A method for hydrolyzing DNA comprising contacting (a) a composition comprising DNA and optionally RNA, and (b) a dsDNase according to claim 1 to form a reaction mixture comprising DNA hydrolysis products.

22 . A method according to claim 21 , wherein the reaction mixture has a total salt concentration of 0 mM to 150 mM.

23 . A method according to claim 21 , wherein the composition comprises RNA and the reaction mixture comprises at least 90% of the RNA that was in the composition.

24 . A method according to claim 21 , wherein the reaction mixture comprises less than 10% of the DNA that was in the composition.

25 . A method according to claim 21 , wherein the reaction mixture further comprises a DNase I buffer or a high magnesium buffer.

26 . A method according to claim 21 , wherein the composition comprises one or more DNA:DNA duplexes, one or more RNA:DNA duplexes, or both one or more DNA:DNA duplexes and one or more RNA:DNA duplexes.

27 . A method according to claim 26 , wherein the duplex DNA comprises no more than one mismatch per 10 paired nucleotides.

28 . A method according to claim 26 , wherein the duplex DNA comprises repetitive DNA sequences.

29 . A composition comprising a dsDNase having an amino acid sequence that is at least 85% identical to SEQ ID NO:14, SEQ ID NO:15, SEQ ID NO:16, SEQ ID NO: 17, or SEQ ID NO: 18, wherein the composition is free of one or more of a DNA polymerase, an RNA polymerase, and a protease.

30 . A method for depleting a target sequence from a population of duplex DNA molecules, the population comprising at least one copy of a DNA strand having the target sequence, the method comprising:

(a) hybridizing to the at least one strand a polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence to form a target duplex, and

(b) contacting the target duplex with a dsDNase having an amino acid sequence that is at least 85% identical to SEQ ID NO:14, SEQ ID NO:15, SEQ ID NO:16, SEQ ID NO:17, or SEQ ID NO: 18 to form a target sequence depleted population of duplex DNA molecules and DNA hydrolysis products.

31 . A method according to claim 30 , wherein the polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence is an oligonucleotide probe.

32 . A method according to claim 30 , wherein the polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence comprises RNA.

33 . A method according to claim 30 , wherein the polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence comprises DNA.

34 . A method according to claim 33 , wherein the polynucleotide having a sequence complementary to the target sequence is a hairpin probe comprising, in a 5′ to 3′ direction, a fluorophore, a first hairpin stem sequence, the sequence complementary to the target sequence, a second hairpin stem sequence complementary to the first hairpin stem sequence, and a quencher corresponding to the fluorophore.

35 . A method according to claim 34 , wherein the DNA hydrolysis products comprise the fluorophore and the quencher, wherein the fluorophore is sufficiently separated from the quencher to be fluorescently active.

36 . A method according to claim 30 , wherein the target sequence is a repetitive sequence present in the population of duplex DNA molecules.

37 . A method according to claim 36 , wherein (a) further comprises denaturing and reannealing the population of duplex DNA molecules and each target duplex comprises hybridized repetitive sequences.

38 . A method for hydrolyzing DNA comprising contacting (a) a composition comprising DNA and optionally RNA, and (b) a dsDNase having an amino acid sequence that is at least 85% identical to SEQ ID NO:14, SEQ ID NO:15, SEQ ID NO:16, SEQ ID NO:17, or SEQ ID NO:18 to form a reaction mixture comprising DNA hydrolysis products.

39 . A method according to claim 38 , wherein the reaction mixture has a total salt concentration of 0 mM to 150 mM.

40 . A method according to claim 38 , wherein the composition comprises RNA and the reaction mixture comprises at least 90% of the RNA that was in the composition.

41 . A method according to claim 38 , wherein the reaction mixture comprises less than 10% of the DNA that was in the composition.

42 . A method according to claim 38 , wherein the reaction mixture further comprises a DNase I buffer or a high magnesium buffer.

43 . A method according to claim 38 , wherein the composition comprises one or more DNA:DNA duplexes, one or more RNA:DNA duplexes, or both one or more DNA:DNA duplexes and one or more RNA:DNA duplexes.

44 . A method according to claim 43 , wherein the duplex DNA comprises no more than one mismatch per 10 paired nucleotides.

45 . A method according to claim 43 , wherein the duplex DNA comprises repetitive DNA sequences.

46 . A composition comprising:

a means for selectively cleaving a DNA strand of a DNA:RNA duplex; and

a non-naturally occurring buffer,

wherein the selective cleavage comprises cleaving ≥90% of the DNA strands of a DNA:RNA duplex at least once and cleaving ≤10% of the RNA strands even once.

47 . A composition according to claim 46 , wherein the means for selectively cleaving a DNA strand of a DNA:RNA duplex comprises an engineered dsDNase having an amino acid sequence that is (a) at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, SEQ ID NO:9, SEQ ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO:11, SEQ ID NO: 12, or SEQ ID NO: 13, and (b) optionally 100% identical to SEQ ID NO:32.

48 . A composition according to claim 46 , wherein the means for selectively cleaving a DNA strand of a DNA:RNA duplex comprises an engineered dsDNase having an amino acid sequence that is (a) at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, SEQ ID NO:9, SEQ ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO:11, SEQ ID NO: 12, or SEQ ID NO:13, and (b) optionally 100% identical to SEQ ID NO:31.

49 . A composition according to claim 46 , further comprising one or more enzymes other than the dsDNase, one or more detergents, one or more glass-forming agents, one or more salts, one or more stabilizers, one or more DNA:DNA duplexes, one or more DNA:RNA duplexes, or combinations thereof.

50 . A composition according to claim 46 , wherein the non-naturally occurring buffer is a storage buffer or a reaction buffer.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 29, 2026
From: NEW ENGLAND BIOLABS, INC.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 074795/0566 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 20, 2023
From: MADUZIA, LISA L.; LUCK, ASHLEY; CROSBY, HEIDI; GANATRA, MEHUL; HSIEH, PEI-CHUNG; POTAPOV, VLADIMIR; JOHNSON, SEAN R.; CANTOR, ERIC J.; ONG, JENNIFER; EVANS, THOMAS C., JR.
To: NEW ENGLAND BIOLABS, INC.
Reel/Frame 065921/0135 →