Module 1: Genome Engineering, D1

M13's Family
M13 is a phage of the Ff family which are E. Coli Filamentous phages. Its other members of the family are fd and f1. They all have circular ssDNA and a very similar structure (5 major protein types, capsid, 4 end proteins - 2 for each side). They do have minor differences. M13 differs from f1 by 52 nucleotides (5 amino acid substitutions). M13 differs from fd in p8 by one amino acid (m13 has a negatively charged aspartate and fd has a neutral asparagine).

"BBa_M1307 is not a standard biological part and does not belong in the registry"
The traditional biological parts on this site are binding sites, terminators, and regulators. BBa_M1307, on the other hand, is a modified version of the M13 genome. So it seems that BBa_M1307 would not be a standard biological part. BBa_M1307 is a modified M13 genome with the p15a origin of replication and a kanamycin reistance gene. This gene can be utilized in many ways since it can replicate itself using a host without affecting the host itself. In fact, if a certain plasmid were to be inserted, we could use BBa_M1307 to take it in and replicate it many times. In essence, this would be a nice, efficient "copy machine" for us. When looking at it this way, BBa_M1307 is more like a copying "device" than a "part".