Calcium-mediated DNA adsorption to yeast cells and kinetics of cell transformation by electroporation.

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Detailed kinetic data suggest that the direct transfer of plasmid DNA (YEp 351, 5.6 kbp, supercoiled, Mr approximately 3.5 x 10(6)) by membrane electroporation of yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, strain AH 215) is mainly due to electrodiffusive processes. The rate-limiting step for the cell transformation, however, is a bimolecular DNA-binding interaction in the cell interior. Both the adsorption of DNA, directly measured with [32P]dCTP DNA, and the number of transformants are collinearly enhanced with increasing total concentrations [Dt] and [Cat] of DNA and of calcium, respectively. At [Cat] = 1 mM, the half-saturation or equilibrium constant is KD = 15 +/- 1 nM at 293 K (20 degrees C). The optimal transformation frequency is TFopt = 4.1 +/- 0.4 X 10(-5) if a single exponential pulse of initial field strength E0 = 4 kV cm-1 and decay time constant tauE = 45 ms is applied at [Dt] = 2.7 nM and 10(8) cells in 0.1 ml. The dependence of TF on [Cat] yields the equilibrium constants KCazero = 1.8 +/- 0.2 mM (in the absence of DNA) and K'Ca (at 2.7 nM DNA), comparable with and derived from electrophoresis data. In yeast cells, too, the appearance of a DNA molecule in its whole length in the cell interior is clearly an after-field event. At Eo = 4.0 kV cm-1 and T = 293 K, the flow coefficient of DNA through the porous membrane patches is Kto = 7.0 +/- 0.7 x 10(3)S-1 and the electrodiffusion of DNA is approximately 10 times more effective than simple diffusion: D/D0 approximately 10.3. The mean radius of these pores is rp = 0.39 +/- 0.05 nm, and the mean number of pores per cell (of size ø approximately 5.5 microns) is Np = 2.2 +/- 0.2 x 10(4). The maximal membrane area that is involved in the electrodiffusive penetration of adsorbed DNA into the outer surface of the electroporated cell membrane patches is only 0.023% of the total cell surface. The surface penetration is followed either by additional electrodiffusive or by passive (after-field) diffusive translocation of the inserted DNA into the cell interior. For practical purposes of optimal transformation efficiency, 1 mM calcium is necessary for sufficient DNA binding and the relatively long pulse duration of 20-40 ms is required to achieve efficient electrodiffusive transport across the cell wall and into the outer surface of electroporated cell membrane patches.

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