What versions of the gus genes are used in the pCAMBIA vectors?

The gusA N358Q mutant (asparagine mutated to glutamine at amino acid position 358 in the original E.coli protein) that prevents N-linked glycosylation at this position is used in all pCAMBIA vectors except the more recent vectors which use the Gusplus and penGus genes.  CAMBIA has also modified the N-terminal end of the protein sequence in order to incorporate desired restriction sites near the 5’ end of the gene. All pCAMBIA vectors (except 1302, 1303, 1304, and the 1381 & 1391 series vectors) use a castor bean catalase gene intron near the 5’ end of the gene to improve the overall expression levels of the GUSA and GUSPlus proteins.

pCAMBIA1105.1, 1105.1R, 1305.1 & 1305.2 use the Gusplus gene from a Staphylococcus sp. isolated by CAMBIA.  For information on this gene, see the BioForge project.  These plasmids are available under CAMBIA's BiOS license.  The GUSPlus protein has better catalytic and chemical resisting properties than E.coli GUSA and has the great advantage (for some applications) that it can be secreted by plant cells. In pCAMBIA1305.2 the gusplus gene is attached to a sequence encoding the glycine rich protein secretion signal peptide. The secretion signal results in the GUSPlus protein being efficiently transported to the periplasmic space (where it is active). This allows non-destructive in vivo staining and detection with living tissues that can be grown further after staining.

pCAMBIA1306.2 and 0306.2 use the penGus gene from Penicillium, a eukaryote with better codon usage for plant and animal uses.  See the Bioforge project page on penGUS for detailed information.