DNA/RNA Synthesizer Model 394
date: label: date made
content: 1991-2007
name: label: maker
content: Applied Biosystems
notes: label: Description
content: This machine is an automated DNA/RNA synthesizer, Model 394 from Applied Biosystems, Inc. It was on the market from 1991 to 2007. DNA/RNA synthesizers can produce short single strands of nucleotides known as oligonucleotides. These “oligos” can be linked together to create longer strands of DNA or RNA. Synthetic DNA or RNA is used by researchers both to study how genes work and for the purposes of genetic engineering and PCR (see object 1993.0166.01). Often it is easier to make a stretch of DNA or RNA with a synthesizer than it is to isolate that same stretch of DNA or RNA from a natural source. Synthetic oligos can also be created with slight changes from the naturally occurring forms, allowing researchers to study the impact of modifying the molecule.
label: Description
content: The ability to synthesize oligos has been around since the late 1950s, when Har Gobind Khorana (1922-2011) discovered a method to make them in the lab using solution phase chemistry. In the 1960s, Robert Letsinger (1921-2014) devised a method for assembling oligos using solid phase chemistry, which constructs the oligo by linking its chemical building blocks onto a polymer bead scaffolding. This advance, along with slight adjustments to Khorana’s original protocol, simplified the reaction to the point where the first automated machines to perform oligo synthesis could be built in the late 1970s. At the time, however the reaction relied on very unstable chemicals that had to be prepared by a highly trained chemist just before the machine could be run.
label: Description
content: By the 1980s further adjustments to the reaction and reagents made it possible for someone without a great deal of experience in chemical preparation to operate the machines, opening up their use to a wider audience and increasing their commercial viability. This work was accomplished by Marvin H. Caruthers (born 1940) and his research team at the University of Colorado. Caruthers, along with Leroy Hood of Caltech, founded Applied Biosystems, Inc. (ABI), to market these simpler-to-use DNA synthesizers. The first ABI synthesizer, Model 380A, shipped in 1983. This object, Model 394 introduced in 1991, was the second wave of Applied Biosystems’s DNA/RNA synthesizers. It consumed chemicals more efficiently than the previous model and could synthesize up to four oligos at one time.
label: Description
content: Sources:
label: Description
content: “Gene Synthesis Demystified.” Czar, Michael J., J. Christopher Anderson, Joel S. Bader, Jean, Peccoud. <i>Trends in Biotechnology</i>. 27 February 2009 (2):63–72.
label: Description
content: Manual for DNA Synthesizer Models 392 and 394, Applied Biosystems, Inc.
label: Description
content: “A Short History of Oligonucleotide Synthesis.” Hogrefe, Richard. TriLink BioTechnologies. http://www.trilinkbiotech.com/tech/oligo_history.pdf
label: Description
content: Caruthers, Marvin H. “The chemical synthesis of DNA/RNA: our gift to science.” <i>The Journal of biological chemistry</i> vol. 288,2 (2013): 1420-7.
label: Description
content: Accession File
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: biochemistry
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Biological Sciences
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content: Biotechnology and Genetics
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Applera Corporation. Applied Biosystems Group through Kay Cook
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2004.0006.01
label: accession number
content: 2004.0006
label: catalog number
content: 2004.0006.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: dna/rna synthesizer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: insulated wire (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 50 cm x 66 cm x 46 cm; 19 11/16 in x 26 in x 18 1/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 20 in x 26 in x 19 1/2 in; 50.8 cm x 66.04 cm x 49.53 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: cr7166: 32 in x 34 in x 26 in; 81.28 cm x 86.36 cm x 66.04 cm