Data availability
The DNA sequence encoding HA and in silico optimized for enzymatic DNA synthesis was deposited to GenBank (accession number PV750927). An enzymatically-optimized HA variant (GenBank PX367232, containing R238K residue for production batch-tracking purposes) was also deposited. PacBio sequencing data generated by this study can be retrieved from the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under the BioProject ID PRJNA1329312.
Code availability
Computational code used for sequence analysis is hosted on GitHub (see https://github.com/timplab/pacbio_eds_rca).
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Acknowledgements
We thank Nick Riddiford for assistance with sequence bioinformatics, and Sylvian Dubourg and Florence Mahé for assistance with DNA synthesis and assembly. We also thank Tyler Hammond, Craig Galligan, Lisa Lowery, Wei Gao, Alex Corwin, and Zhen Liu for assistance with reagent prep, DNA scale-up, and downstream purification. This work was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) under contract #N66001-21-C-4014 (awarded to GE). Portions of this work were also supported by DARPA and the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRN) (Award HR0011-21-9-0001). D.B.W. is additionally supported by NIH/NIAID Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVIC) contract 75N93019C00051, the W.W. Smith Charitable Trust Distinguished Professorship in Cancer Research, and the Jill and Mark Fishman Foundation. N.J.T. is supported by T32CA009171. The opinions, findings, and conclusion or recommendations expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of DARPA or the US government.
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Competing interests
The authors declare the following, which may be considered as potential competing interests: S.C., R.R., and X.G. are employees of DNA Script and have filed patent applications pertaining to aspects of this work. E.K., J.N., and W.G. are employees of GE HealthCare and have filed patent applications pertaining to aspects of this work. D.B.W. is a consultant for and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for INOVIO Pharmaceuticals. D.H.F. is a consultant for and co-founder of Orlance Inc. Neither Orlance nor INOVIO were involved in the study design, data collection, data analysis, or manuscript preparation. D.B.W. participates in industry collaborations; has received speaking honoraria; and has received fees for consulting, including serving on scientific review committees. Remunerations received by D.B.W. include direct payments and equity/options. D.B.W. also discloses the following associations with commercial partners: Geneos (consultant/advisory board), AstraZeneca (advisory board, speaker), and Pfizer (advisory board). All other authors declare that they have no competing interests related to this work.
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Fuller, J., Kvam, E., Creton, S. et al. Novel enzymatic DNA produced from a text file achieves comparable immune responses as plasmid vaccine. npj Vaccines (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-025-01329-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-025-01329-0
