Why register entities individually or in bulk?
You can register plasmids in two ways: single plasmid registration or in bulk.
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The single registration process works well for registering 3 or fewer entities. You'll import your entity, fill out metadata, register, and then create new batches. This is the focus of this article.
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The bulk process works well if you need to register many entities. You'll import metadata and batch information, import plasmid maps, and then register.
Create an entity
We'll walk though an example registration for a plasmid file.
Open a project folder. Toggle to the Inventory Section.
Click “+” and Import DNA. Drop in your plasmid file. Note that we first import all entities in the Inventory before promoting them to the registry.
Toggle to the Metadata Tab and set schema to Plasmid. Depending on your organization's preferences, the 'Plasmid' schema name might be slightly different (i.e. Construct, "Type A" Plasmid).
Fill in values for each field on the Metadata tab.
There are a few fields that are Part Links. Select Autofill Part Fields to link any Part links to your plasmid map. Identified parts will show up as links. See below for how you can create new parts straight from your plasmid map.
Register your entity
If everything looks good, hit the Register button at the top of the metadata page.
In the Register modal, you may see few options for generating your ID.
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Generate new registry IDs: user defined entity names
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Generate registry IDs based on entity names: entity names are user defined / Registry IDs are based on entity name
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Generate new registry IDs and replace name with registry ID: entity names are defined as the Registry ID
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Generate new registry IDs, rename according to name template, and keep old name as alias: entity names are defined by the naming template, and keep user defined names as alias
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Generate new registry IDs, and replace name according to name template: entity names are defined by naming template, and will replace user defined entity name
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Keep existing entity names as registry IDs: entity retains its unique name and the Registry ID is defined by that name.
Depending on the configuration for the 'Plasmid' schema, you will either be able choose from one of the above options or be limited to only one pre-designated option.
Create and register a single child entity
Follow the above instructions to register a single child entity.
On the entity page, select the appropriate child entity schema that this entity belongs to. In the indicated field, add the registered parent. The example shown is for registration for a single plasmid prep.
Create and register a batch for a single entity [Enterprise Only]
The following instructions applies if the Batch feature is configured for your tenant.
Optionally, each entity in Benchling can hold multiple batches. These represent the actual samples of your constructs. For example, after you've done a Maxi prep, you'll want to create an actual batch of a plasmid.
To do so, search and open the Construct entity.
Toggle to the Batches tab and click on the "+" sign next to Batch. Fill out the appropriate information.
You can now use this batch ID on your tube. Remember that you can also @-mention batches in your Notebook.
Note: Batches are legacy functionality, and Benchling recommends using child entities