Presence of cloning vector sequences in the untranslated region of some genes in genbank

Abstract

We found multiple cloning site sequences in the reported untranslated regions (UTR) of several genes in Genbank. The erroneous information can result in the failure to amplify DNA fragments containing untranslated regions by RT-PCR. It is suggested that a BLAST search be performed when primers are designed for PCR amplification of the 5' or 3' UTR of genes to ensure that the reported UTR does not contain plasmid-derived sequences.