Gutaquest – Plasmids are circular chains of DNA. It’s possible that the unique sequences will have different ratios of reagents and will likely be different lengths – so they may need different amount of reagents for the same number of plasmids produced - but the raw material cost per gram is probably the same. I do not know the cost of raw material per gram. The only numbers kicked out is that cygx once stated that they could make synDNA at a tenth of the cost of fermented clinical grade DNA which was going $250K-$300K/g at the time. Because they are intending to use the synDNA for themselves and sell the extra it’s not clear if the $25K-$30K/g ballpark was supposed to be cost of raw materials or cost of finished goods. All we know at this point is that the cost of the reagents should be $30K/g or less.
The point that I was trying to make before is that this business model is more like a printing shop than a gas station. I think some people think that once cygx starts up the lab people will walk in with a little vial and say filler up but in fact it will be much more like a Kinko’s where the machines are designed to spit out similar product at a high level but each batch will be very unique at the low level. The discussion will be much more like “how many copies would you like”, “do you have the original”, etc. From there, the presses (vats) will be set up and a batch will be run. And like a printing shop, the cost will either be by the number of copies regardless of how much ink (reagent) is used or it will be by the finished weight of product. Either way would be easier than figuring out how many A’s, how many G’s, how many T’s, etc. I think the set up cost could vary but again it may be easier to have a one size fits all approach unless the request falls outside of the norm – extra long sequence, etc - like someone wanting a poster instead of stock 8.5x11 in the print shop example. This pricing model is pure speculation and hopefully we’ll get some more information as the stuff is sold. It’s not anything I’m concerned about. If the advantages are as advertised they should be able to command a very good margin on synDNA - until something else comes along.
