An agarose-based cloning-ring anchoring method for isolation of viable cell clones.

Isolation of clonal cell populations is a crucial aspect of cell biology during engineering of specific cell strains with both genotypic and phenotypic variations. The use of cloning rings is the most established method, but requires anchoring chemicals or material that can often interfere with quantitative clonal-cell isolation and causes physical damage to the cells. Here we report a non-toxic, cell culture-compatible method that uses aga-rose for embedding the cloning rings during isolation of cell clones from monolayer cultures, with enhanced cell-viability and reproducibility during downstream applications. The method is simple and rapid, minimizing the chances for desiccation or cross-contamination during colony-lifts.