Avidity, LLC

Avidity LLC was founded in 1996 and is located in colorful Colorado. Avidity’s patented AviTag sequence enables researchers around the world to connect molecules via one of nature’s strongest molecular interactions. AviTag History AviTag was a patented biotin-tagging technology discovered at Affymax by Dr. Peter Schatz from a Directed Evolution approach called "Peptides-on-Plasmids." The Directed Evolution approach identified a number of peptide sequences that can be biotinylated by the BirA enzyme of E. coli, and the best of these sequences was called the AviTag. E. coli enzyme BirA biotinylates the 15 amino acid AviTag twice as fast as its natural substrate, the Biotin Carboxyl Carrier Protein (BCCP). The enzymatic biotinylation of proteins using AviTag technology is preferred over chemical biotinylation of proteins because BirA enzyme gently, and highly specifically, labels the lysine residue of the AviTag. Prior to the AviTag, the smallest biotin-accepting domain was comprised of 75 amino acids. The Future As Avidity matures, the company is expanding its scientific horizons and investigating the use of bioluminescence-such as found in deep sea organisms-to make its products even more useful to the scientific community. Avidity was approached by Dr. Bruce Bryan of Prolume, Ltd., in 2004 to use the AviTag in conjunction with Avidity Avitag™ Technology Avidity develops and sells molecular affinity tools for connecting molecules. Our AviTag™ technology employs a highly targeted enzymatic conjugation of a single biotin on a unique 15 amino acid peptide tag using the biotin ligase (BirA) from E. coli. AviTag™ sequence is GLNDIFEAQKIEWHE. Oriented on streptavidin-coated surfaces, this creates an ideal presentation for molecular binding interactions. The scientific benefits of Avidity's AviTag Technology have garnered notice. Currently, AviTag technology is used by eight of the world's top ten pharmaceutical companies and is used by researchers in over 30 countries.