InvivoGen

Invivogen perhaps has the worst and most unhelpful customer service

Invivogen is perhaps one of those companies that offer the worst and most unhelpful customer service of all

Dear Amanda Biggs, sans-serif;"> I received a letter from you on Monday, March indicating that a complaint was filed from our customer about a gene we sell on our pUNO1-mUNC93Bplasmid The customer made claims about a mutation at amino acid position from Y to F and another at position from T to A Also mentioned were “silent mutations” The customer was mistaken with all of her claims With DNA sequences, InvivoGen has the following disclaimer posted on our website: Disclaimer: Our products are provided for research purpose onlyCommercial applications may require licensing from third parties.Note that the sequence of available ORFs provided by InvivoGen can differ from a given reference Genbank record due to genetic variations and/or alternative splicing[emphasis added] Customers should verify that the version of a gene sold by InvivoGen is suitable for the customer needs The only guarantee we make is with regards to the published sequence of our gene matching the actual sequence of the plasmid provided In the case of the T574A mutation and “silent mutations” these are all incorrect and are based on an alignment of our published sequence with an outdated GenBank record ( [redacted] )A BLAST analysis of our published gene sequence with the current record ( [redacted] ) shows that our sequence matches 100% and the “silent mutations” do not actually exist in the current record, nor does the T574A mutation Our published sequence does show the amino acid Tyrosine (Y) at position so I had our manufacturing office check the sequencing results of this plasmid when it was first constructed (they confirmed that the Y at position was in fact present) and I also had them send out the plasmid from the lot the customer received (370101-14) Both in our original clone, and the commercial lot of this plasmid we found that the amino acid at position is a Y Further proof that what we are selling is the correct version of the gene and the protein it encodes for is evidenced by the entry for the protein sequence on UniprotKB/Swiss-Prot From the UniProt website: The Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) is a comprehensive resource for protein sequence and annotation dataThe UniProt databases are the UniProt Knowledgebase (UniProtKB), the UniProt Reference Clusters (UniRef), and the UniProt Archive (UniParc)UniProtKB consists of two sections: Reviewed (Swiss-Prot) - Manually annotatedRecords with information extracted from literature and curator-evaluated computational analysisUnreviewed (TrEMBL) - Computationally analyzedRecords that await full manual annotation The protein sequence for mouse UNC93Bis available in the expertly reviewed and manually annotated Swiss-Prot database The protein sequence on our pUNO1-mUNC93Bmatches 100% with this UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot entry (see below) Below is the e-mail correspondence sent directly to the customer and her reply Her desired resolution to have our version of the gene marked as “mouse UNC93Bmutant” is not valid as the sequence we provide matches with two separate databases (for the nucleic acid sequence and the amino acid sequence) We will send a replacement vial with the lot of the plasmid that was just recently verified by sequencing Considering this customer’s complaint is based on erroneous data, we request that this complaint be closed Sincerely, [redacted] ** [redacted] ***

Dear Amanda Biggs,
sans-serif;"> 
I received a letter from you on Monday, March 9 indicating that a complaint was filed from our customer about a gene we sell on our pUNO1-mUNC93B1 plasmid.  The customer made claims about a mutation at amino acid position 349 from Y to F and another at position 574 from T to A.  Also mentioned were 7 “silent mutations”.  The customer was mistaken with all of her claims.
 
With DNA sequences, InvivoGen has the following disclaimer posted on our website:
Disclaimer: Our products are provided for research purpose only. Commercial applications may require licensing from third parties.Note that the sequence of available ORFs provided by InvivoGen can differ from a given reference Genbank record due to genetic variations and/or alternative splicing. [emphasis added] Customers should verify that the version of a gene sold by InvivoGen is suitable for the customer needs.
 
The only guarantee we make is with regards to the published sequence of our gene matching the actual sequence of the plasmid provided.  In the case of the T574A mutation and 7 “silent mutations” these are all incorrect and are based on an alignment of our published sequence with an outdated GenBank record ([redacted]). A BLAST analysis of our published gene sequence with the current record ([redacted]) shows that our sequence matches 100% and the 7 “silent mutations” do not actually exist in the current record, nor does the T574A mutation.  Our published sequence does show the amino acid Tyrosine (Y) at position 349 so I had our manufacturing office check the sequencing results of this plasmid when it was first constructed (they confirmed that the Y at position 349 was in fact present) and I also had them send out the plasmid from the lot the customer received (370101-14).  Both in our original clone, and the commercial lot of this plasmid we found that the amino acid at position 349 is a Y. 
Further proof that what we are selling is the correct version of the gene and the protein it encodes for is evidenced by the entry for the protein sequence on UniprotKB/Swiss-Prot.  From the UniProt website:
The Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) is a comprehensive resource for protein sequence and annotation data. The UniProt databases are the UniProt Knowledgebase (UniProtKB), the UniProt Reference Clusters (UniRef), and the UniProt Archive (UniParc).
UniProtKB consists of two sections:
Reviewed (Swiss-Prot) - Manually annotated. Records with information extracted from literature and curator-evaluated computational analysis.
Unreviewed (TrEMBL) - Computationally analyzedRecords that await full manual annotation.
 
The protein sequence for mouse UNC93B1 is available in the expertly reviewed and manually annotated Swiss-Prot database.  The protein sequence on our pUNO1-mUNC93B1 matches 100% with this UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot entry (see below).
 
Below is the e-mail correspondence sent directly to the customer and her reply.
 
Her desired resolution to have our version of the gene marked as “mouse UNC93B1 mutant” is not valid as the sequence we provide matches with two separate databases (for the nucleic acid sequence and the amino acid sequence).  We will send a replacement vial with the lot of the plasmid that was just recently verified by sequencing.
 
Considering this customer’s complaint is based on erroneous data, we request that this complaint be closed.
 
Sincerely,
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
** [redacted]

Review: We ordered a clone from InvivoGen but the protein sequence is not what the clone supposed to be. The Clone, mouse [redacted], from InvivoGen two significant mutations: Y349F and T574A. Both mutations render the clone as a potential phosphorylation mutant rather than a wilptype as the company advertised. When I contacted the company about this problem, I was told that they simply sold "as it is" and the person answered the phone claimed this is a "genetic variant". The clone indeed contains varied DNA sequence that renders 7 "silent mutations" (i.e, the mutation changes DNA sequence but not amino acid sequence). The company cannot sell us this mutant as wild-type clone. They also cannot advertise this clone as "variant" when two important amino acid have been changed.Desired Settlement: InvivoGen can either refund us or replace the current clone with the wild-type. If they continue to sell this clone, they need to mark it as "mouse [redacted] mutant", rather than advertise it as "mouse [redacted] clone".

Business

Response:

Dear Amanda Biggs, I received a letter from you on Monday, March 9 indicating that a complaint was filed from our customer about a gene we sell on our pUNO1-mUNC93B1 plasmid. The customer made claims about a mutation at amino acid position 349 from Y to F and another at position 574 from T to A. Also mentioned were 7 “silent mutations”. The customer was mistaken with all of her claims. With DNA sequences, InvivoGen has the following disclaimer posted on our website:Disclaimer: Our products are provided for research purpose only. Commercial applications may require licensing from third parties.Note that the sequence of available ORFs provided by InvivoGen can differ from a given reference Genbank record due to genetic variations and/or alternative splicing. [emphasis added] Customers should verify that the version of a gene sold by InvivoGen is suitable for the customer needs. The only guarantee we make is with regards to the published sequence of our gene matching the actual sequence of the plasmid provided. In the case of the T574A mutation and 7 “silent mutations” these are all incorrect and are based on an alignment of our published sequence with an outdated GenBank record ([redacted]). A BLAST analysis of our published gene sequence with the current record ([redacted]) shows that our sequence matches 100% and the 7 “silent mutations” do not actually exist in the current record, nor does the T574A mutation. Our published sequence does show the amino acid Tyrosine (Y) at position 349 so I had our manufacturing office check the sequencing results of this plasmid when it was first constructed (they confirmed that the Y at position 349 was in fact present) and I also had them send out the plasmid from the lot the customer received (370101-14). Both in our original clone, and the commercial lot of this plasmid we found that the amino acid at position 349 is a Y. Further proof that what we are selling is the correct version of the gene and the protein it encodes for is evidenced by the entry for the protein sequence on UniprotKB/Swiss-Prot. From the UniProt website:The Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) is a comprehensive resource for protein sequence and annotation data. The UniProt databases are the UniProt Knowledgebase (UniProtKB), the UniProt Reference Clusters (UniRef), and the UniProt Archive (UniParc).UniProtKB consists of two sections:Reviewed (Swiss-Prot) - Manually annotated. Records with information extracted from literature and curator-evaluated computational analysis.Unreviewed (TrEMBL) - Computationally analyzedRecords that await full manual annotation. The protein sequence for mouse UNC93B1 is available in the expertly reviewed and manually annotated Swiss-Prot database. The protein sequence on our pUNO1-mUNC93B1 matches 100% with this UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot entry (see below). Below is the e-mail correspondence sent directly to the customer and her reply. Her desired resolution to have our version of the gene marked as “mouse UNC93B1 mutant” is not valid as the sequence we provide matches with two separate databases (for the nucleic acid sequence and the amino acid sequence). We will send a replacement vial with the lot of the plasmid that was just recently verified by sequencing. Considering this customer’s complaint is based on erroneous data, we request that this complaint be closed. Sincerely, [redacted]