Localized transfection with magnetic beads coated with PCR products and other nucleic acids.

The bead transfection method involves binding nucleic acids onto 3-microm-diameter paramagnetic beads, treating the beads with transfection reagent, and using them as scaffolds to direct transfection to individual cells or regions in a population. Typically, PCR products are used because they can be conveniently generated using biotinylated primers and can introduce site-directed mutations, without the need for cloning or plasmid purification. However, the method can be adapted to transfect plasmid DNA or RNA.

Localized transfection on arrays of magnetic beads coated with PCR products.

High-throughput gene analysis would benefit from new approaches for delivering DNA or RNA into cells. Here we describe a simple system that allows any molecular biology laboratory to carry out multiple, parallel cell transfections on microscope coverslip arrays. By using magnetically defined positions and PCR product-coated paramagnetic beads, we achieved transfection in a variety of cell lines.