transfection
Sign in to saveTransfection is the process of deliberately introducing naked or purified nucleic acids into eukaryotic cells. It may also refer to other methods and cell types, although other terms are often preferred: "transformation" is typically used to describe non-viral DNA transfer in bacteria and non-animal eukaryotic cells, including plant cells. In animal cells, transfection is the preferred term, as the term "transformation" is also used to refer to a cell's progression to a cancerous state (carcinogenesis). Transduction is often used to describe virus-mediated gene transfer into prokaryotic cells.
Article
13 sectionsContents
- Terminology
- Methods
- Physical methods
- Chemical methods
- Viral methods
- Stable and transient transfection
- RNA transfection
- Endogenous vs. exogenous long RNA
- Repeated long-RNA transfection
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Transfection is the process of deliberately introducing naked or purified nucleic acids into eukaryotic cells. It may also refer to other methods and cell types, although other terms are often preferred: "transformation" is typically used to describe non-viral DNA transfer in bacteria and non-animal eukaryotic cells, including plant cells. In animal cells, transfection is the preferred term, as the term "transformation" is also used to refer to a cell's progression to a cancerous state (carcinogenesis). Transduction is often used to describe virus-mediated gene transfer into prokaryotic cells.
The word transfection is a portmanteau of the prefix trans- and the word "infection." Genetic material (such as supercoiled plasmid DNA or siRNA constructs), may be transfected. Transfection of animal cells typically involves opening transient pores or "holes" in the cell membrane to allow the uptake of material. Transfection can be carried out using calcium phosphate (i.e. tricalcium phosphate), by electroporation, by cell squeezing, or by mixing a cationic lipid with the material to produce liposomes that fuse with the cell membrane and deposit their cargo inside.