DNA-mediated gene transfer without carrier DNA.

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Abstract
DNA-mediated gene transfer is a procedure which uses purified DNA to introduce new genetic elements into cells in culture. The standard DNA-mediated gene transfer procedure involves the use of whole cell DNA as carrier DNA for the transfer. The standard DNA-mediated gene transfer procedure was modified to transfer the Herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase gene (TK) into TK- murine recipient cells in the absence of whole cell carrier DNA. The majority (8/10) of carrier-free transformant lines expressed the TK+ phenotype stably, in sharp contrast to carrier-containing DNA-mediated gene transfer. There was a wide range in donor DNA content among independent transformants. Further analysis on 1 transformant line using DNA restriction digests and in situ hybridization provided evidence that, in the absence of whole cell carrier DNA, multiple donor DNA sequences became integrated at a single chromosomal site.