THE BIOLISTIC(R) PDS-1000 HE DEVICE

This paper describes the design, operation, and performance of the Biolistic(R) PDS-1000/He device, which is used to transform living organisms with foreign DNA. DNA is delivered to cells in association with microscopic metal particles, called microcarriers, that are propelled at high velocity towards target tissues. The microcarriers are accelerated on a plastic cylinder, called a macrocarrier, which is driven by a shock wave of helium gas. The effectiveness of the PDS-1000/He device was tested by bombarding tobacco cell suspension cultures with microcarriers that were coated with plasmid DNA containing the B-glucuronidase (GUS) and neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPTII) genes. Two days after bombardment, there were 6835 +/- 594 cell clusters per petri plate that expressed the GUS gene. Kanamycin resistant colonies were observed 6 to 8 weeks after bombardment, at a rate of 838 +/- 134 colonies per bombarded plate.