Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Review Article
  • Published:

Transformation of Microbes, Plants and Animals by Particle Bombardment

Abstract

Over the past several years, particle bombardment has evolved into a useful tool for molecular biologists, allowing direct gene transfer to a broad range of cell and tissue types. Some of the important applications of the process include the production of transgenic crop species including maize and soybean and the introduction of DNA into plastids and mitochondria. Recent results have extended the range of gene transfer by particle bombardment to animal and bacterial cells. One noteworthy newer application is the direct insertion of genes into the organs of living animals. Here we discuss these advances and the instrument developments that contributed to them.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gilboa, E., Eglitis, M.A., Kantoff, P.W. and Anderson, W.F. 1986. Transfer and expression of cloned genes using retroviral vectors. Bio Techniques 4: 504–512.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Klee, H., Horsch, R. and Rogers, S. 1987. Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation and its further applications to plant biology. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 38: 467–487.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Potrykus, I. 1990. Gene transfer to cereals. Bio/Technology 8: 535–542.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Klein, T.M., Roth, B.A. and Fromm, M.E. 1989. Advances in direct gene transfer into cereals, p. 13–31. In: Genetic Engineering, Vol. 11. J. Setlow (Ed.). Plenum Press, NY.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Davey, M.R., Rech, E.L. and Mulligan, B.I. 1989. Direct DNA transfer to plant cells. Plant Molec. Biol. 13: 273–285.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Keown, W.A., Campbell, C.R. and Kucherlapati, R.S. 1990. Methods for introducing DNA into mammalian cells. Methods in Enzymology 185: 527–537.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Sanford, J.C., Klein, T.M., Wolf, E.D. and Allen, N. 1987. Delivery of substances into cells and tissues using a particle bombardment process. J. Part. Sci. Technol. 5: 27–37.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Klein, T.M., Goff, S.A., Roth, B.A. and Fromm, M.E. 1990. Applications of the particle gun in plant biology, p. 56–66. In: Progress in Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology. H. J. J. Nijkamp, L. H. W. van der Pla, and J. van Aartrijk (Eds.). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Sanford, J. 1990. Biolistic plant transformation: A critical assessment. Physiologia Plantarum 79: 206–209.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Fromm, M.E., Morrish, F., Armstrong, C., Williams, R., Thomas, J. and Klein, T.M. 1990. Inheritance and expression of chimeric genes in the progeny of transgenic maize. Bio/Technology 8: 833–839.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Gordon-Kamm, W.J., Spencer, T.M., Mangano, M.L., Adams, T.R., Daines, R.J., Start, W.G., O'Brien, J.V., Chambers, S.A., Adams, W.R., Willetts, N.G., Rice, T.B., Mackey, C.J., Krueger, R.W., Kausch, A.P. and Lemaux, P.G. 1990. Transformation of maize cells and regeneration of fertile transgenic plants. Plant Cell 2: 603–618.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. McCabe, D.E., Swain, W.F., Marinell, B.J. and Christou, P. 1988. Stable transformation of soybean (Glycin max) by particle bombardment. Bio/Technology 6: 923–926.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Williams, R.S., Johnston, S.A., Reidy, M., DeVit, M.J., McElligott, S.G. and Sanford, J.C. 1991. Introduction of foreign genes into tissues of living mice by DNA-coated microprojectiles. Proc. Nail. Acad. Sci. USA 88: 2726–2730.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Yang, N.S., Burkholder, J., Roberts, B., Martinell, B. and McCabe, D. 1990. In vivo and in vitro gene transfer to mammalian somatic cells by particle bombardment. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87: 9568–9572.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Sanford, J.C. 1990. The biolistic process—an emerging tool for research and clinical applications, p. 89–98. In: Biomedical Engineering: Opening New Doors. Proceedings of the 1990 Annual Meetings of the Biomedical Engineering Society. D. C. Milulecky and A. M. Clarke (Eds.). New York University Press, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Johnston, S.A., Anziano, P.Q., Shark, K., Sanford, J.C. and Butow, R.A. 1988. Mitochondrial transformation in yeast by bombardment with microprojectiles. Science 240: 1538–1541.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Boynton, J.E., Gillham, N.W., Harris, E.H., Hosier, J.P., Johnson, A.M., Jones, A.R., Randolph-Anderson, B.L., Robertson, D., Klein, T.M., Shark, K.B. and Sanford, J.C. 1988. Chloroplast transformation in Chlamydomonas with high-velocity microprojectiles. Science 240: 1534–1538.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Klein, T.M., Wolf, E.D., Wu, R. and Sanford, J.C. 1987. High-velocity microprojectiles for delivery of nucleic acids into living cells. Nature 327: 70–73.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Klein, T.M., Fromm, M.E., Weissinger, A., Tomes, D., Schaaf, S., Sletten, M. and Sanford, J.C. 1988. Transfer of foreign genes into intact maize cells using high velocity microprojectiles. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85: 4305–4309.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Christou, P., McCabe, D.E. and Swain, W.F. 1988. Stable transformation of soybean callus by DNA-coated gold particles. Plant Physiol. 87: 671–674.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Oard, J.H., Paige, D.F., Simmonds, J.A. and Gradziel, T.M. 1990. Transient gene expression in maize rice and wheat cells using an airgun apparatus. Plant Physiol. 92: 334–339.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Morikawa, H., Iida, A. and Yamada, Y. 1989. Transient expression of foreign genes in plant cells and tissues obtained by a simple biolistic device (particle gun), Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 31: 320–322.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Sautter, C., Waldner, H., Neuhaus-Url, G., Galli, A., Neuhaus, G. and Potrykus, I. 1991. Micro-targeting: high efficiency gene transfer using a novel approach for the acceleration of microprojectiles. Bio/Technology 9: 1080–1085.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Sanford, J.C., Devit, M.J., Russell, J.A., Smith, F.D., Harpending, P.R., Roy, M.K. and Johnston, S.A. 1991. An improved, helium-driven biolistic device. Technique 3: 3–16.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Johnston, S.A. 1990. Biolistic transformation: microbes to mice. Nature 346: 776–777.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Armaleo, D., Ye, G.N., Klein, T.M., Shark, K.B., Sanford, J.C. and Johnston, S.A. 1990. Biolistic nuclear transformation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other fungi. Current Genetics 17: 97–103.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Klein, T.M., Knowlton, S. and Arentzen, R. 1991. Gene transfer by particle bombardment, D1: 1–12. In: Plant Tissue Culture Manual. K. Lindsey (Ed.). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Klein, T.M., Gradziel, T., Fromm, M.E. and Sanford, J.C. 1988. Factors influencing gene delivery into Zea mays cells by high-velocity microprojectiles. Bio/Technology 6: 559–563.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Wang, Y.C., Klein, T.M., Fromm, M.E., Cao, J., Sanford, J.C. and Wu, R. 1988. Transformation of rice, wheat, and soybean by the particle bombardment method. Plant Molec. Biol. 11: 433–439.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Christou, P., McCabe, D.E. and Swain, W.F. 1988. Stable transformation of soybean callus by DNA-coated gold particles. Plant Physiol. 87: 671–674.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Klein, T.M., Harper, E.C., Svab, Z., Sanford, J.C., Fromm, M.E. and Maliga, P. 1988. Stable genetic transformation of intact Nicotiana cells by the particle bombardment process. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 85: 8502–8505.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Klein, T.M., Kornstein, L., Sanford, J.C. and Fromm, M.E. 1989. Genetic transformation of maize cells by particle bombardment. Plant Physiol. 91: 440–444.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Hinchee, M.A.W., Cannor-Ward, D.V., Newell, C.A., McDonnell, R.E., Sato, S.J., Gasser, C.S., Fischhoff, D.A., Re, D.B., Fraley, R.T. and Horsch, R.B. 1988. Production of transgenic soybean plants using Agrobaclerium-mediated DNA transfer. Bio/Technology 6: 915–922

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Christou, P., Ford, T.L. and Kofron, M. 1991. Production of transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants from agronomically important indica and japonica varieties via electric discharge particle acceleration of exogenous DNA into immature zygotic embryos. Bio/Technology 9: 957–962

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Finer, J.J. and McMullen, M.D. 1990. Transformation of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) via particle bombardment. Plant Cell Reports 9: 189–194.

    Google Scholar 

  36. McCown, B.H., McCabe, D.E., Russell, D.R., Robinson, D.J., Barton, K.A. and Raffa, K.F. 1991. Stable transformation of Populus and incorporation of pest resistance by electric discharge particle acceleration. Plant Cell Reports 9: 590–594.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Kartha, K.K., Chibbar, R.N., Georges, F., Leung, N., Caswell, K., Kendall, E. and Qureshi, J. 1989. Transient expression of chloram-phenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene in barley cell cultures and immature embryos through microprojectile bombardment. Plant Cell Reports 8: 429–432.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Creissen, G., Smith, C., Francis, R., Reynolds, H. and Mullineaux, P. 1990. Agrobacterium- and microprojectile-mediated viral DNA delivery into barley microspore-derived cultures. Plant Cell Reports 8: 680–683.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Vasil, V., Brown, S.M., Re, D., Fromm, M.E. and Vasil, I.K. 1991. Stably transformed callus lines from microprojectile bombardment of cell suspension cultures of wheat. Bio/Technology 9: 743–747.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Hagio, T., Blowers, A.D. and Earle, E.D. 1991. Stable transformation of sorghum cell cultures after bombardment with DNA-coated micro-projectiles. Plant Cell Reports 10: 260–264.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Fitch, M.M., Manshardt, R.M., Gonsalves, D., Slightom, J.L. and Sanford, J.C. 1990. Stable transformation of papaya via microprojectile bombardment. Plant Cell Reports 9: 189–194.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Maniatis, T., Goodbourn, S. and Fischer, J.A. 1987. Regulation of inducible and tissue-specific gene expression. Science 236: 1237–1245.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Kuhlemeier, C., Fluhr, R., Green, P.J. and Chua, N.-H. 1987. Regulation of gene expression in higher plants. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 38: 221–257.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Twell, D., Klein, T.M., Fromm, M.E. and McCormick, S. 1989. Transient expression of chimeric genes delivered into pollen by microprojectile bombardment. Plant Physiol. 91: 1270–1274.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  45. Bruce, W.B., Christensen, A.H., Klein, T., Fromm, M. and Quail, P.H. 1989. Photoregulation of a phytochrome gene promoter from oat transferred into rice by particle bombardment. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 86: 9692–9696.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  46. Dehesh, K., Bruce, W.B. and Quail, P.H. 1990. A transactine factor that binds to a GT-motif in a phytochrome gene promoter. Science 250: 1397–1399.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Goff, S.A., Klein, T.M., Roth, B.A., Fromm, M.E., Cone, K.C., Radicella, J.P. and Chandler, V.L. 1990. Transactivation of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes following transfer of B regulatory genes into maize tissues. EMBO J. 9: 2517–2522.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  48. Roth, B.A., Goff, S.A., Klein, T.M. and Fromm, M.E. 1991. Cl- and R-dependent expression of the maize Bzl gene requires sequences with homology to mammalian myb and myc binding sites. Plant Cell. 3: 317–325.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  49. Blowers, A.D., Bogorad, L., Shark, K. and Sanford, J.C. 1989. Studies on Chlamydomonas chloroplast transformation: foreign DNA can be stably maintained in the chromosome. The Plant Oil. 1: 123–132.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Stern, D.B., Radwanski, E.R. and Kindle, K.L. 1991. A 3′ stem/loop structure of the Chlamydomonas chloroplast atpB gene regulates mRNA accumulation in vivo. Plant Cell 3: 285–297.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  51. Daniell, H., Vivekananda, J., Nielsen, B.L., Ye, G.N., Tewari, K.K. and Sanford, J.C. 1990. Transient foreign gene expression in chloroplasts of cultured tobacco cells after biolistic delivery of chloroplast vectors. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 87 88–92.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  52. Ye, G.N., Daniell, H. and Sanford, J.C. 1990. Optimization of delivery of foreign DNA into higher-plant chloroplasts. Plant Molec. Biol. 15: 809–819.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Daniell, H., Krishnan, M. and McFadden, B.F. 1991. Transient expression of β-glucuronidase in different cellular compartments following biolistic delivery of foreign DNA into wheat leaves and calli. Plant Cell Rep. 9: 615–619.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Svab, Z., Hajdukiewitz, P. and Maliga, P. 1990. Stable transformation of plastids in higher plants. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 87: 8526–8530.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  55. Butow, R.A. and Fox, T.D. 1990. Organelle transformation: shoot first, ask questions later. TIBS 15: 465–468.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Fitzpatrick-McElligott, S. 1992. Gene transfer to tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and other mammalian somatic cells by the particle delivery method. Bio/Technology In press.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Zelenin, A.V., Titomirov, A.V. and Kolesnikov, V.A. 1989. Genetic transformation of mouse cultured cells with the help of high-velocity mechanical DNA injection. FEBS Lett. 244: 65–67.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  58. Zelenin, A.V., Alimov, A.A., Titomirov, A.V., Kazansky, A.V., Gorodetsky, S.I. and Kolesnikov, V.A. 1991. High-velocity mechanical DNA transfer of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene into rodent liver, kidney and mammary gland ceils in organ explants in vivo. FEBS Lett. 280: 94–96.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Johnston, S.A., Reidy, M., De Vit, M.J., Sanford, J.C., McElligott, S.G. and Williams, R.S. Biolistic transformation of animal tissue. 1991. In Vitro Cell. and Dev. Biol. 27: 11–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Zelenin, A.V., Alimov, A.A., Barmintzev, V.A., Beniumov, A.O., Zelenina, I.A., Krasnov, A.M. and Kolesnikov, V.A. 1991. The delivery of foreign genes into fertilized fish eggs using high-velocity microprojectiles. FEBS Lett. 287: 118–120.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  61. Baldarelli, R.M. and Lengyl, J.A. 1990. Transient expression of DNA after ballistic introduction into Drosophila embryos. Nuc. Acid Res. 18: 5903–5904.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  62. Tang, D., De Vit, M. and Johnston, S.A. 1992. Genetic immunization: A simple method for eliciting an immune response. Nature, In press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Klein, T., Arentzen, R., Lewis, P. et al. Transformation of Microbes, Plants and Animals by Particle Bombardment. Nat Biotechnol 10, 286–291 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0392-286

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0392-286

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing