Description
GoldBio’s Kanamycin Monosulfate, USP Grade is a high-purity aminoglycoside antibiotic trusted by researchers for reliable selection.
With its potent action against Gram-negative bacteria via 30S ribosomal subunit inhibition, this USP-grade antibiotic is widely used in bacterial cloning, inducible protein expression systems, transgenic plant development, and environmental metagenomic library screening. It is effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as Mycoplasma species. Kanamycin is commonly used to select for bacteria that have been transformed with a kanamycin-resistant gene and plant tissues that have the NPT II (APH3) gene incorporated in them. Kanamycin is very soluble in aqueous solution and is typically used in concentrations of 50-100 µg/ml.
Its solubility in water, stability in solution, and compatibility with multi-antibiotic systems make it a foundational tool in molecular biology, synthetic biology, and functional genomics.
Mechanism:
Aminoglycoside antibiotics are composed of amino groups attached to glycosides. They bind the 30s ribosomal subunit, causing misreading of the mRNA sequence and inhibition of translocation. Consequently, protein synthesis is inhibited.
TESTED AGAINST BOTH SENSITIVE AND RESISTANT CELLS AT GOLD BIOTECHNOLOGY LAB.
Common Research Applications for Kanamycin Monosulfate
(Click each for more information)
Selection of Bacteria with Kanamycin Resistance Plasmids
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Purpose: To enable selective growth of genetically modified bacteria harboring kanamycin resistance genes such as aph(3')-IIa.
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How It Works: Kanamycin inhibits bacterial protein synthesis by binding to the 30S ribosomal subunit and halting translation. Only resistant transformants expressing kanamycin-modifying enzymes survive.
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Applications: Plasmid propagation, gene cloning, and recombinant protein production in E. coli and other Gram-negative hosts.
Messing, J., & Vieira, J. (1991). New pUC-derived cloning vectors with different selectable markers and DNA replication origins. Gene, 100(1), 189–194.
Plant Genetic Transformation
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Purpose: To select transformed plant cells carrying the nptII kanamycin resistance gene following genetic transformation.
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How It Works: During Agrobacterium-mediated or biolistic transformation, kanamycin eliminates non-transformed cells while allowing resistant transgenic cells to proliferate.
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Applications: Generation of transgenic crops and model plants such as Arabidopsis, tobacco, and rice.
Hiei, Y., Ohta, S., Komari, T., & Kumashiro, T. (1994). Efficient transformation of rice (Oryza sativa L.) mediated by Agrobacterium and sequence analysis of the boundaries of the T-DNA. Plant Journal, 6(2), 271–282.
Protein Expression in Inducible Systems
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Purpose: To maintain bacteria carrying inducible expression plasmids with kanamycin resistance markers.
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How It Works: Kanamycin selection ensures propagation of properly transformed cells prior to induction of recombinant protein production.
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Applications: High-yield protein expression in BL21(DE3) and related strains for structural biology and biotechnology research.
Studier, F. W., & Moffatt, B. A. (1986). Use of bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase to direct selective high-level expression of cloned genes. Journal of Molecular Biology, 189(1), 113–130.
Synthetic Biology for Circuit Design and Modularity
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Purpose: To support modular genetic engineering using distinct selectable markers across multiple plasmids.
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How It Works: Kanamycin resistance enables stable maintenance of engineered plasmids in E. coli, supporting combinatorial gene assembly and multi-vector systems.
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Applications: Synthetic gene circuits, CRISPR assemblies, and metabolic pathway engineering.
Mutalik, V. K., et al. (2013). Precise and reliable gene expression via standard transcription and translation initiation elements. Nature Methods, 10(4), 354–360.
Metagenomic Library Screening and Functional Gene Mining
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Purpose: To facilitate construction and maintenance of metagenomic libraries in kanamycin-resistant vectors for function-based screening.
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How It Works: Environmental DNA fragments are cloned into fosmid or cosmid vectors carrying kanamycin resistance and introduced into E. coli hosts for screening.
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Applications: Discovery of novel enzymes, antibiotics, biofuel pathways, and uncultured microbial metabolic functions.
Rondon, M. R., et al. (2000). Cloning the soil metagenome: a strategy for accessing the genetic and functional diversity of uncultured microorganisms. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 66(6), 2541–2547.
Benefits:
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High-Purity Antibiotic: USP grade ensures reliability and consistency in demanding research applications.
- Effective Selection Agent: Delivers robust elimination of non-transformed cells in both microbial and plant systems.
- Cross-System Versatility: Compatible with bacterial cloning, plant transformation, synthetic biology, and metagenomics.
- Stable and Water-Soluble: Enables convenient stock solution preparation with strong storage performance.
- Supports Multimodal Engineering: Ideal for workflows requiring multiple antibiotic resistances across complex plasmid systems.
Storage/Handling
Store desiccated at -20°C. Soluble in water.
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