Ligase Market - A Global and Regional Analysis

Global Ligase Market Industry Overview  

The global ligase market was estimated to be at $XX million in 2025, which is expected to grow with a CAGR of 5.61% and reach $XX million by 2035. The growth in the global ligase market is expected to be driven by factors such as the increasing prevalence of infectious and genetic diseases on a global level, rising awareness of enzyme based diagnostic testing and significant number of funding for executing research and development.

Market Lifecycle Stage

The global ligase market is progressing rapidly with a significant increase in the research and development activities pertaining to a wide range of ligase product for disease detection, accentuating their criticality in healthcare. Ligase enzyme has a critical role in the molecular diagnostics approach, as it ensures the safe and effective application of targeted therapeutics. Most of the players in the global ligase market offer products encompassing the ligation kits and enzymes.

Increasing investments in the R&D for enzyme-based molecular diagnostics is one of the major opportunities in the ligase market. Several diagnostics and pharmaceutical companies are working collaboratively on drug development and using ligase as a therapeutic means for applications in several disease indications in order to enable efficient diagnosis, treatment selection, dosage selection, and treatment monitoring.

Impact 

Several techniques are employed in the development of ligase utilization to detect and quantify specific DNA or RNA sequences. This ligase market space has been segmented into applications that includes ligase chain reaction (LCR), ligase detection reaction (LDR), next-generation sequencing (NGS), repeat expansion detection (RED), rolling circle amplification (RCA), proximity ligation assay (PLA), molecular cloning, ligation mediated PCR, mutation detection, and other application such as drug target. Some of these technologies are described briefly as follows:

•    Ligase chain reaction (LCR): LCR is an amplification process that contrasts with polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which includes a thermostable ligase to join two probes or different particles together, which can then be amplified by standard PCR cycling.
•    Ligase detection reaction (LDR): LDR is a ligase chain reaction (LCR) dependent methodology which that involves a single pair of complementary probes to one strand of targeted DNA. This technique utilizes a high fidelity based thermostable DNA ligase that can distinguish against the ligation of mismatched probes.
•    Next-generation sequencing (NGS): In next-generation sequencing, DNA ligase is used to identify the presence of the nucleotide at a specific position in a DNA sequence. The role of this sequencing depends upon the ability of DNA ligase to identify and consolidate bases in an unmistakable way.
•    Ligation mediated PCR: The process of ligation mediated PCR allows to generate prototypical sequencing templates without subcloning from huge molecules, for example-., amplified yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs).

Market Segmentation:

Segmentation 1: by Product
•    Quick Ligase 
•    T4 DNA ligase 
•    E. coli DNA Ligase 
•    Tth DNA Ligase 
•    T4 RNA Ligase 
•    Pfu DNA Ligase  
•    Others

The global ligase market in the products segment is expected to be dominated by T4 DNA ligase. This is due to an increased usage of T4 DNA ligase, and it is the most commonly used ligase type among suppliers offering kits and enzymes to their end users.

Segmentation 2: by Source
•    Archaebacterium
•    Escherichia coli 
•    Thermus thermophilus 
•    Pyrococcus furiosus 
•    Others 

The global ligase market is dominated by the Escherichia coli source as it is a commonly used ligase to join recombinant ends of molecules before they are introduced into the cell. Products like T4 RNA ligase, T4 DNA ligase, E. coli DNA ligase, and salt T4 DNA ligase are obtained from Escherichia coli in abundance.

Segmentation 3: by Application           
•    Ligase Chain Reaction (LCR)
•    Ligase Detection Reaction (LDR) 
•    Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS)
•    Repeat Expansion Detection (RED) 
•    Rolling Circle Amplification (RCA) 
•    Proximity Ligation Assay (PLA)
•    Molecular Cloning 
•    Ligation Mediated PCR 
•    Mutation Detection 
•    Others 

The molecular cloning process dominates the application segment and NGS is the emerging diagnostic application in the global ligase market. The increase in the utilization of this procedure is due to various cloning techniques that have been created that fall under molecular cloning to improve the ease and speed at which DNA fragments can be recombined.

Segmentation 4: by End User
•    Research Laboratories and Institutions 
•    Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Companies 
•    Diagnostic Laboratories
•    Others

The research laboratories and institutions dominate the end-user segment in the global ligase market as research laboratories, particularly are most involved in carrying out the research studies that are focused on the identification of understanding the diagnostic application of ligase enzyme.

Recent Developments in Global Ligase Market

•    In January 2022, ArcticZymes Technologies launched new products such as ArcticZymes R2DTM Ligase, IsoPol BST+ High Concentration Glycerol FREE and M-SAN HQ ELISA Kit and M-SAN HQ
•    In April 2022, Codexis, Inc. and Molecular Assemblies, Inc., partnered to engineer enzymes and deliver differentiated and cost-effective solutions for the enzymatic synthesis of DNA. 
•    In May 2022, QIAGEN acquired majority stake of 96% in BLIRT e.u.., a manufacturer of recombinant enzymes for the life science industry based in Gdansk, Poland. The acquisition was carried out to bring companies capabilities to create additional growth prospects to their enzymes and reagents business.
•    In July 2021, Merck invested $282.5 million at its global headquarters in Darmstadt. Company is involved in building a new translational science center for its healthcare business sector as well as a new learning center.  

Demand – Drivers and Limitations

Following are the demand drivers for the global ligase market:

•    Growing need for Ligases in Disease Treatment 
•    Rising Incidence of Diseases such as Cancer and Genetic Disorders
•    Rising Focus of Researchers on Non-Toxic Biocatalyst

The market is expected to face some limitations too due to the following challenges:

•    High Reception Costs Involving Small and Medium Enterprises 
•    Variation in the Ability of Ligase to Repair 

Analyst Thoughts

According to Swati Sood, Principal Analyst, BIS Research, “Global ligase market has evolved to be an integrative aspect of healthcare practices by providing most diagnostic laboratory tests equipped with infectious disease, oncology, and genetics. The massively parallel methods that have now transcended enzyme-based molecular diagnostics further allow the sequencing of entire genomes at very low costs and are expected to grow further in the coming years due to the continuous increase in prognostic assessments for a wide range of diseases.