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We have developed a general method for electrically introducing DNA into plant cells. Gene transfer occurs when a high-voltage electric pulse is applied to a solution containing protoplasts and DNA. Carrot protoplasts were used as a model system to optimize gene-transfer efficiency, which was measured 24-48 hr after electroporation by the amount of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity resulting from the expression of the introduced chimeric plasmids. Gene-transfer efficiency increased with the DNA concentration and was affected by the amplitude and duration of the electric pulse as well as by the composition of the electroporation medium. Our optimized gene-transfer conditions were effective when applied to tobacco and maize protoplasts, demonstrating that the method is applicable to both monocot and dicot protoplasts.
Fromm et al. (Sun,) studied this question.