Isolation of rare recombinants without using selectable markers for one-step seamless BAC mutagenesis

Current laboratory methods to isolate rare (1:10,000 to 1:100,000) bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) recombinants require selectable markers. Seamless BAC mutagenesis needs two steps: isolation of rare recombinants using selectable markers, followed by marker removal through counterselection. Here we illustrate founder principle-driven enrichment (FPE), a simple method developed to rapidly isolate rare recombinants without using selectable markers, allowing one-step seamless BAC mutagenesis. As proof-of-principle, we isolated 1:100,000 seamless fluorescent protein-modified Nodal BACs via FPE and confirmed BAC functionality by generating fluorescent reporter mice. We also isolated small indel P1-phage derived artificial chromosome (PAC) and BAC recombinants. Statistical analysis revealed that 1:100,000 recombinants can be isolated running <40 PCRs and we developed a web-based calculator to optimize FPE. By eliminating the need for selection-counterselection, this work highlights a straightforward and low-cost approach to BAC mutagenesis, providing a tool for seamless recombineering pipelines in functional genomics.