E coli strains

Laboratory bacteria are divided into two main strains: expression strains and cloning strains. Expression strains are optimised for protein yield, while cloning strains are optimised for maintaining a high copy of plasmids.

Cloning strains

XL1 blue (Tetr)

XL10 gold (Chlorr)

DH5alpha

Expression strains

BL21

C41

Rosetta (for proteins with rare codon usage)

Rosetta-gami (enhanced expression for eukaryotic proteins with rare codon usage)