POSSIBILITIES OF CELL-FUSION AND TRANSFORMATION BY ELECTROSTIMULATION

A survey of three electrostimulation techniques: (A) the micro-technique with agglutination of cells, (B) the micro-technique with dielectrophoretic collection of cells, and (C) the micromanipulator technique with needle electrodes for contacting cells. These are illustrated by examples of fusion between protoplasts of microbiological mutants, or between animal cells on the one hand and the enhancement of the transformation rate with plasmid DNA on the other. For an explanation of pore enlargement and membrane breakdown, an electrodichroitic model is described. From these results is appears that this new bioelectrochemical method will become a powerful tool for gene- and biotechnology.