Getting IVT Right: Improving Capping Efficiency

By Clare Whitewoods

As regulatory scrutiny grows around mRNA vaccine and therapeutic manufacturing, challenges around capping in in vitro transcription (IVT) are a major focus. mRNA capping is critical for transcript stability, immunogenicity reduction, and efficient cellular processing. Uncapped mRNA can arise in IVT, necessitating strategies to improve capping efficiency. Two main methods exist: post-transcriptional enzymatic capping and co-transcriptional capping using cap analogs. Co-transcriptional capping is simpler but often inefficient, requiring costly excess reagents to improve yields.

Read the article below to see how Codex® HiCap RNA Polymerase, a new engineered enzyme, addresses these inefficiencies, achieving high capping efficiency without high reagent costs, improving IVT yields and supporting efficient mRNA synthesis.