Gene Transfection ---A Historic New Technology

Transfection is the process of deliberately introducing nucleic acids, such as DNA and double stranded RNA into mammalian cells. The insertion of DNA into a cell enables the expression or production of proteins using the cells own machinery, whereas insertion of RNA into a cell is used to down-regulate the production of a specific protein by stopping translation. While the site of action for transfected RNA is the cytoplasm, DNA must be transported to the nucleus for effective transfection. There, the DNA can be transiently expressed for a short period of time, or become incorporated into the genomic DNA, where the change is passed on from cell to cell.This powerful tool has allowed researchers better study gene function and expression, protein function, and genetic mutations.

It not only brings us a revolutionary change of treating many fundamental problems in biology and medicine research, but has also promoted the development of molecular techniques of the diagnosis and treatment and has made it possible to gene therapy. At present, Gene transfection has been widely used in the structure and function of gene analysis, gene expression and regulation, gene therapy and transgenic animal research.

There are various methods of introducing foreign DNA into a eukaryotic cell and those methods can be generally summarized as two categories: virus methods and non-virus methods.

Virus methods mainly include retroviral vector and DNA-based virus vector. Non-virus methods can be subdivided into:

Chemical-based transfection: this can be divided into several kinds: cyclodextrin, polymers, liposomes or nanoparticles, DEAE-dextran or polyethylenimine and etc.

Biological methods: such as direct injection, receptor mediated gene transfer, sperm-mediated gene transfer.

Physical methods: gene gun, microinjection, electroporation and so on.

And other tools like Transfection reagents have become increasingly popular in recent years.

No single transfection reagent or method works for all cell types. Fortunately, many methods and reagents have been developed in the past few decades to facilitate transfection of a wide variety of cells. Creative Biogene offers transfection reagents which are ideal for delivering all types of nucleic acids including: DNA, siRNA, miRNA, mRNA, viral RNA and oligonucleotides to eukaryotic cells. They will offer you the ability to consistently transfect a broad range of cell types with high efficiency and exceptional ease of use.

For more information about Gene transfection kindly visit www.creative-biogene.com