Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center

    College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

    UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN-MADISON UW-MADISON

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    Services

    Timeline

    On average, there are five key steps involved in transforming your idea into fully developed transgenic seeds ready for delivery.

    1. Contract (2-3 months)
      • All research at WCIC requires a signed UW contract.  There will be two conversations, the first is with the Associate Director to discuss general term.  A second conversation is with the team lead for construct design to calculate how many base pairs of DNA to synthesize to make an accurate contract budget.  From here you will get a draft for your institution/company to review and sign and partially execute it (PX copy) and it will be sent to the UW for review and full execution (FX copy).  You will receive a copy of the FX when it is executed–research can begin. Some contracts, like soybean transformation with require additional items for signature. 
    2. Construct assembly (2-3 months)
      • Once a FX copy is available, two events are triggered, the first invoice and the initiation of DNA synthesis.  Some DNA takes over 30 days to ship and the assemble takes 1-2 months to complete and have a construct verified and put into Agrobacteria and delivered to the Production Team
    3. Queue (1 month)
      • The transformation team will start on your Agrobacterium harboring your construct with 1 month of receiving it.  If this will be longer, we will communicate this to you during the contract phase
    4. Transformation (3-4 months)
      • Some crops make events rapidly, but we like to suggest it is a 3–4-month window for events to grow through selection and regeneration steps to get to soil.  When plants are in soil, you can elect to get monthly automated updates about their progress
    5. Soil to seed  (3-4 months)
      • Most crops will take 90-120 days to go from soil to seed.  Once harvested they are moved to a cold room and seed packages for each event are counted, documented and stored until shipping.

    Pricing

    Internal UW System RateExternal Public RateExternal Private Rate
    Transformation ServicesAgro | BiolisticsAgro | BiolisticsAgro | Biolistics
    Maize – LH244$3,297 | N.A$6,298 | N.AContact Us | N.A
    Soybean – Williams82$1,715 | Contact Us$2,789 | Contact UsContact Us | Contact Us
    Soybean – IL, MN, Asgrow Varieties$4,833 | Contact Us$6,089 | Contact UsContact Us | Contact Us
    Sorghum – RTx430$3,909 | N.A$7,168 | N.AContact Us | N.A
    Cowpea – IT86D-1010$7,653 | N.A$9,857 | N.AContact Us | N.A
    Hemp – (CBD Variety)$6,720 | N.A$13,440 | N.AContact Us | N.A

    Additional species are accessible for larger orders, including barley, wheat, and brachypodium, among others.

    Molecular ServicesInternal UW System RateExternal Public RateExternal Private Rate
    Vector Transformation into Agro$89.04$112.00$140.00
    Simple Vector Cloning (Over – expression, RNAi, Promoter, Editing up to 2 guides
    (more guides are possible, but vectoring cost increases)    		$893.76$1,126.72$2,253.44
    DNA/RNA Extraction$4.75$5.98$11.97
    Hemp CBD HPLC Analysis (Discounts available in quantities of 24 or more)$38.00$47.89$71.84

    The WCIC also offers greenhouse services to external parties such as plant grow outs for increasing seed, immature maize ear production for clients wanting to do their own transformation experiments, and other such services.

    Greenhouse ServicesInternal UW System RateExternal Public RateExternal Private Rate
    General Space Usage (ft2/month; Includes WCIC plant care and harvest) $ 3.48 $ 4.39 $ 8.78
    Soybean/Medicago/Cotton/Rice seed increase and harvest (price/pot) $ 26.82 $ 50.00 $ 100.00
    Maize/Sorghum seed increase and harvest (price/pot) $ 53.14 $ 66.96 $ 125.00
    Maize Hi-II or LH244 immature ears (10-14 DAP ears shipped on ice) $ 35.00 $ 44.10 $ 107.52
    • The above plant transformation prices are for delivery of T1 seed from up to 6 independent events/construct.
    • Depending on plant species, editing constructs may be higher in price due to reduced transformation efficiencies – please contact us for details.
    • Delivery of plantlets may also be available for a reduced cost.
    • Contact us for quantity discounts on projects of 100 or more events.
    • Transformations will be scheduled upon contract signing and plasmid availability, unless otherwise discussed.
    • Average turnaround time for maize, wheat, and sorghum is 8-12 months and 6-8 months for soybean.

    Other services (such as sampling and shipping plant tissue for third party analysis, germination testing, photographs for phenotype, etc.) may be available at an hourly rate. However, these extra services need to be negotiated and agreed upon prior to project commencement.

    Misc. Hourly FeesInternal UW System RateExternal Public RateExternal Private Rate
    Consulting FeeContact UsContact UsContact Us
    Discovery Project FeeContact UsContact UsContact Us
    General Labor Fee (Sampling, documentation, planting, etc.)$58.00$73.00$84.00

    DNA extracted from T0 leaf samples is analyzed using endpoint PCR to identify the presence of the corresponding t-DNA marker. This service is provided free of charge for all contracted T0 client material. For any work outside of T0, prices are as follows:

    Plant analysisInternal UW System RateExternal Public RateExternal Private Rate
    DNA Extraction$ 4.75$ 5.98$ 11.97
    Endpoint PCR$ 4.13$ 5.20$ 10.41

    For an additional fee, copy number analysis of the t-DNA marker can be determined using ddPCR(digital droplet PCR, BioRad). T0 generation copy number analysis is highly recommended if single copy homozygous T2 seeds are the desired outcome of a project. Copy number services are also available for client’s particular genes of interest, with additional charges for primer/probe design and validation.

    We recommend that researchers use single copy events, and offer copy number screening at the seedling stage. It is a substantial expense to take plants to seed, so early screening provides the highest quality product in the most efficient manner. WCIC will determine the insert copy number of the events produced as they enter the greenhouse stage of the transformation process. Only single copy events can be advanced if requested. This will ensure that subsequent expression analysis, phenotype, and segregation is not confounded by multiple copy and possibly multiple insert events, and will ensure the highest quality downstream data. Copy number analysis will be done using a BioRad QX200 ddPCR platform. Inquire for pricing. Prices are as follows:

    Internal UW System RateExternal Public RateExternal Private Rate
    ddPCR Copy Number$ 19.01$ 23.95$ 47.89
    Primer/Probe design per GolTBDTBD$1,600.00

    Other services (such as sampling and shipping plant tissue for third party analysis, germination testing, photographs for phenotype, etc.) may be available at an hourly rate. However, these extra services need to be negotiated and agreed upon prior to project commencement.

    The following research seed is available–Please contact Sally.Muller@wisc.edu for more information:

    • Maize:
      • LH244
      • B73
    • Soybean:
      • Williams82
      • Asgrow 3244

    Prices for available research seed:

    • $100 per one seed envelope of 250 seeds
    • $100 for Phytosanitary Certificate if required or requested
    • $50 domestic shipping within the United States
    • Actual shipping costs for international shipping (DHL or FedEx); if you want to use your own account, there is a $20 shipping/handling fee

    Pricing and services are subject to change at any time.

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