K.K. DNAFORM


FANTOM™ Clones : FAQ

Question

Regarding Services

Q1-1:
Does DNAFORM distribute all clones of the RIKEN Mouse Encyclopedia Project?
Q1-2:
How do I order FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets from DNAFORM?
Q1-3:
Can you provide more information on the pricing of FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets?
Q1-4:
Do you offer discount prices for ordering large numbers of FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets?
Q1-5:
How can I pay for my FANTOM™ Clones or FANTOM Clone Sets?
Q1-6:
How long do I have to wait for my FANTOM™ Clone after completing the order to DNAFORM?
Q1-7:
In which format and with what type of documentation do you distribute FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets?

Regarding Terms and Conditions

Q2-1:
Can we change terms of the Sublicensing Agreement in accordance with our local regulations?
Q2-2:
What are your terms and conditions for the transfer of FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets?
Q2-3:
Can I share FANTOM™ Clones between different institutions as part of collaborative research projects?
Q2-4:
What is the Cartagena Law dated from June 18, 2003
Q2-5:
Does DNAFORM provide FANTOM™ Clones as part of academic collaborations?
Q2-6:
Does DNAFORM offer collaborations on the commercial use of FANTOM™ Clones?

Regarding Technical Support

Q3-1:
What is a FANTOM™ PS Clone?
Q3-2:
What is a FANTOM™ FLS Clone?
Q3-3:
What is a DNABook™?
Q3-4:
How do I know that a clone is indeed a FANTOM™ Clone?
Q3-5:
In which format do you provide individual FANTOM™ Clones?
Q3-6:
In which format do you provide FANTOM™ Clone Sets?
Q3-7:
How can I obtain information on the insert size and sequence of a FANTOM™ Clone?
Q3-8:
Do FANTOM™ Clones contain full-length ORFs?

Answers

Regarding our Services

Q1-1:

Does DNAFORM distribute all clones of the RIKEN Mouse Encyclopedia Project?

Yes, DNAFORM makes an effort to distribute all RIKEN clones obtained during the RIKEN Mouse Encyclopedia Project. However, please be aware of the fact that some RIKEN FANTOM™ Clones may have been lost over time and are no longer available for distribution. DNAFORM works together with RIKEN to make reasonable efforts to retrieve missing clones from the original RIKEN plates.

Q1-2:

How do I order FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets from DNAFORM?

Please follow the directions given under "Order & Shipping Info". The procedure is the same for ordering individual FANTOM™ Clones or FANTOM™ Clone Sets.

Q1-3:

Can you provide more information on the pricing of FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets?

Please refer to our price list. All prices are given in Japanese Yen and do not include any tax or shipping and handling fees. The shipping fees charged by us are dependent on your home country.

Q1-4:

Do you offer discount prices for ordering large numbers of FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets?

DNAFORM distributes FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets based on a unit pricing, which is independent from the number of clones or clone sets ordered. For custom re-arrays of larger numbers of FANTOM™ Clones please contact our FANTOM™ Desk for a quotation.

Q1-5:

How can I pay for my FANTOM™ Clones or FANTOM Clone Sets?

Where possible, we recommend the use of Credit Card payment for international money transfer, as it allows for a faster processing of your order and we do not charge any bank fees. In case Credit Card payment is impossible, we offer to customers OUTSIDE of Japan cash-in-advance payment to our account, and all bank charges are to be covered by the customer. Within Japan, DNAFORM will invoice the payments due.

Q1-6:

How long do I have to wait for my FANTOM™ Clone after completing the order to DNAFORM?

We recommend purchasing FANTOM™ Clones as bacterial cultures. If not otherwise notified, DNAFORM tries to ship out FANTOM™ Clones within one week after confirmation of the order. All shipments are commonly made at the beginning of the week to avoid complications over weekends. Depending on your destination, international shipments by an express carrier may take up to three or four days. If you orderd FANTOM™ Clones as sequence verified plasmid DNA, the DNA will be shipped within about 4 weeks after confirmation of the order. Note, due to public holidays in Japan, DNAFORM may not ship out clones during certain weeks.

Q1-7:

In which format and with what type of documentation do you distribute FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets?

DNAFORM distributes FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets together with datasheets explaining the basic handling of the clones or clone sets. For further customer support, we are offering additional technical information, where you can find vector maps, vector sequences for downloading, and useful protocols for working with your clones.

Regarding Terms and Conditions

Q2-1:

Can we change terms of the Sublicensing Agreement in accordance with our local regulations?

The Sublicensing Agreement in its present form cannot be changed or discussed, as it is part of our arrangements with RIKEN.

Q2-2:

$B6&(BWhat are your terms and conditions for the transfer of FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets?

For a greater transparency of our terms and conditions for the transfer of FANTOM™ Clones and FANTOM™ Clone Sets, we have modified our web site and provide now the complete information for your reference.

Q2-3:

Can I share FANTOM™ Clones between different institutions as part of collaborative research projects?

Unfortunately, no. The user of the FANTOM™ Clone is defined by the person and institution named in the sublicense agreement. If other researchers in other institutions wish to work on the same FANTOM™ clone, they can obtain the same FANTOM™ Clone from DNAFORM.

Q2-4:

What is the Cartagena Law dated from June 18, 2003?

You can find more information about this international treaty at:
http://www.cep.unep.org/law/cartnut.html

Q2-5:

Does DNAFORM provide FANTOM™ Clones as part of academic collaborations?

For academic collaborations on the use of FANTOM™ Clones, please contact RIKEN directly; contact information can be found on their web site: http://genome.gsc.riken.go.jp/index.html

Q2-6:

Does DNAFORM offer collaborations on the commercial use of FANTOM™ Clones?

DNAFORM has the exclusive rights on the commercial use of FANTOM™ Clones. In case you would be interested in a commercial application of FANTOM™ Clones, please contact us directly.

Regarding Technical Support

Q3-1:

What is a FANTOM™ PS Clone?

A FANTOM™ PS Clone is a clone isolated from a full-length cDNA library and characterized by one-pass sequencing from the 3'-end, or for some FANTOM™ PS Clones for the 5'- and the 3'-end. RIKEN did not further characterize those clones as PS reads were only used to select novel clones for full-length sequencing.

Q3-2:

What is a FANTOM™ FLS Clone?

A FANTOM™ FLS Clone is a clone isolated from a full-length cDNA library and characterized by full-length sequencing. Beyond the full-length sequence, RIKEN has made efforts to further annotate those sequences and the related clones by bioinformatic means and in certain cases by further experiments like expression profiling. All information on FANTON™ FLS Clones can be found on RIKEN's web site: http://fantom.gsc.riken.jp/.

Q3-3:

What is a DNABook™

A DNABook™ is a new format for the distribution of clone collections. Purified plasmid DNA from each clone is printed into a book that provides in addition further information on the clone collection. The user can retrieve clones of interest by cutting out the spot holding the plasmid DNA, extract the DNA, and use it for re-transformation into bacteria or direct amplification of the insert by PCR. The DNABook™ offers many advantages for regular users as you can have entire clone collections at your hand without need for large -80°C freezer capacities.

Q3-4:

How do I know that a clone is indeed a FANTOM™ Clone?

Commonly you can find in the output reports of the public databases under "DEFINITION" Mus musculus RIKEN cDNA, which indicates that this sequence was submitted by RIKEN, and that the related cDNA clone should be part of the FANTOM™ Clone collection.

Q3-5:

In which format do you provide individual FANTOM™ Clones?

Commonly, DNAFORM provides individual FANTOM™ Clones in the form of a living bacterial culture on slant streak agar send at room temperature. On request, we can also provide purified and sequence verified plasmid DNA from individual FANTOM™ Clones.

Q3-6:

In which format do you provide FANTOM™ Clone Sets?

Commonly, DNAFORM provides FANTOM™ Clone Sets in the form of frozen glycerol stocks in 384-well plates shipped on dry ice.

Q3-7:

How can I obtain information on the insert size and sequence of a FANTOM™ Clone?

Clone specific information can be found in the RIKEN FANTOM™ database at http://fantom.gsc.riken.jp/. Please perform a search using the ID number of your clone. In the information page for this ID number you can find a link to show the nucleotide sequence and length of the insert as determined by RIKEN. Similarly, a predicted amino acid sequence can be retrieved in the same way.

Q3-8:

Do FANTOM™ Clones contain full-length ORFs?

Although all FANTOM™ Clones have been obtained from full-length enriched cDNA libraries, we cannot exclude that some of the clones may be truncated, and as such do not contain full-length ORFs. In addition, the FANTOM™ Clone Set contains many potentially non-cording cDNAs.