About the Authors

Stephan Fath

Affiliation Geneart AG, BioPark, Regensburg, Germany

Asli Petra Bauer

Affiliation Molecular Microbiology and Gene Therapy Unit, Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Michael Liss

Affiliation Geneart AG, BioPark, Regensburg, Germany

Anne Spriestersbach

Affiliation QIAGEN GmbH, Hilden, Germany

Barbara Maertens

Affiliation QIAGEN GmbH, Hilden, Germany

Peter Hahn

Affiliation QIAGEN GmbH, Hilden, Germany

Christine Ludwig

Affiliation Geneart AG, BioPark, Regensburg, Germany

Frank Schäfer

Affiliation QIAGEN GmbH, Hilden, Germany

Marcus Graf

Affiliation Geneart AG, BioPark, Regensburg, Germany

Ralf Wagner

ralf.wagner@geneart.com

Affiliations Geneart AG, BioPark, Regensburg, Germany, Molecular Microbiology and Gene Therapy Unit, Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Competing Interests

The authors declare competing financial interests: Geneart performed the gene design, optimization and synthesis; optimized genes are marketed as QIAgenes by QIAGEN. The authors also declare competing interests in the form of patent family WO04059556 including all national patents and pending applications. The authors declare that all other data and materials described in the manuscript adhere to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. S.F., M.L., C.L., M.G. and R.W. are employed by Geneart AG; A.S., B.M., P.H. and F.S. are employed by Qiagen GmbH and A.P.B. and R.W. are employed by the University of Regensburg.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SF APB ML AS BM PH FS MG RW. Performed the experiments: SF APB AS BM PH. Analyzed the data: SF APB AS BM PH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SF APB AS BM PH. Wrote the paper: SF CL. Designed, performed and analyzed mammalian expression experiments, functional kinase assays and wrote the manuscript: SF. Designed, performed and analyzed MIP1a experiments: APB. Designed and performed Sf9-expression experiments: AS BM. Performed the CDC2-rescue study: PH. Helped design the experiments: ML. Revised the manuscript: CL. Designed and initiated the study: FS MG RW. Designed and set up the de novo gene synthesis- and optimization approach: MG RW.