Design Health Checks

The Design Health panel runs automated validation checks on your construct in the background. It detects common design errors before you order primers or send constructs for synthesis.

The panel shows a colored dot (green/yellow/red) with badge counts: errors (E), warnings (W), and info (I). Click a severity badge to filter the issue list. Expand any issue to see a description, suggested fix, and educational explanation.

1. Missing terminator — No terminator/polyA signal found downstream of a CDS. This causes read-through transcription and low expression.

2. Reading frame error — Insert is not in frame with the start codon or upstream tag. The translated protein will be wrong.

3. Incompatible origins — Two co-transformed plasmids have origins from the same incompatibility group. One plasmid will be lost.

4. Restriction site conflicts — Internal restriction sites in the insert match the cloning enzymes. The insert will be cut during digestion.

5. Missing Kozak sequence — For mammalian expression: no strong Kozak context around the start codon. Translation initiation will be inefficient.

6. Missing start codon — No ATG found at the expected translation start position.

7. Missing stop codon — No in-frame stop codon at the end of the CDS. The ribosome will read into downstream sequences.

8. Promoter-expression system mismatch — The promoter type doesn't match the selected expression system (e.g., CMV in E. coli).

9. Missing origin of replication — No origin detected. The plasmid cannot replicate in the host.

10. Missing antibiotic resistance — No selectable marker found. You won't be able to select transformants.

11. Codon usage mismatch — Significant rare codon usage for the target organism. Expression may be reduced.

12. Repetitive sequences — Long direct or inverted repeats that could cause recombination-mediated instability.

13. High GC content — GC content >70% or <25%, which can cause synthesis and expression problems.

14. Large insert size — Insert >10 kb, which may reduce transformation efficiency and plasmid stability.

Each issue includes two options:

"Fix this in chat" — Pre-fills the chat input with the suggested fix and selects the affected feature. The AI will apply the correction.

"Learn more" — Expands an educational explanation (<100 words) with links to external resources (Addgene, iGEM registry).

The Design Health panel re-runs automatically 2 seconds after any construct change.