Add a Part to the Registry

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Adding Parts

Members of iGEM teams and labs may add three kinds of parts to the Registry: Basic Parts, Composite Parts, and Construction Intermediates.


Parts must have a DNA sequence. Users should document, characterize, and measure their parts, and provide that information on their part pages. Users can submit samples of their parts to the Registry.




Basic Parts

Basic Parts are discrete functional units of DNA: promoters, ribosome binding site, protein coding regions, etc. They cannot be subdivided into smaller component parts. DNA for a basic part may be obtained by ''de novo'' synthesis, by total synthesis based on a sequence from GenBank, by primer extension and PCR, or via other techniques. Like all parts submitted to the Registry, a Basic Part sample is stored in a plasmid (pSB1C3), and flanked by the BioBrick prefix and suffix. The prefix and suffix are ''not'' included in the sequence of the part when documented on the Registry. BBa_K863006 is a good example of a well documented Basic Part. Read our help page on adding a basic part

Composite Parts

Composite Parts are functional units made from an ordered series of basic parts or other composite parts. ''Explicit base pairs of DNA cannot be entered in as sequence for these parts'' (parts which do require you to manually enter sequence are Basic Parts). The Registry's software provides information and sequence for all the basic parts that you list as components of your composite part. While the Registry provides the sequence from the component parts specified, the function and design issues of the composite part should be documented in detail. BBa_K1150020 is a good example of a well documented Composite Part. Read our help page on adding a composite part.

Construction Intermediates

Construction Intermediates have no specific function and are just the result of assembling two parts together. They require no further documentation. Often they are unwanted byproducts of construction They all have the type 'Intermediate' and part names of the form 'BBa_Snnnnn'. These part names are automatically assigned by the Registry software. Once you enter your intermediate part in the Registry, you will be able to use BioBrick Blast to check your assembly's sequence and your part will show up in the subpart and superpart search functions. If you send us the DNA, we will be able to share your work with others and include it in assemblies done by the Registry.

Deleting A Part

You can try to delete a part by going to a part's "Hard Information" and setting the DNA status to "deleted".


The most important feature of a standard biological part should be that a user of the part does not have to talk to you, the designer of the part. This is achieved by completely documenting the part.

Help Pages


Add a Part to the Registry: Related Registry Help Pages
Ready to add your part? Go to the Add a Part page.
Have questions on adding a part to the Registry? Send an email to hq (at) igem . org.