MadSci Network: Cell Biology |
Hello Felicia,
Thanks for the great question!
As a former yeast biologist, I have transformed yeast dozens of times without really giving a lot of thought to the role that carrier DNA plays. In my lab, we used calf thymus DNA in lieu of salmon sperm DNA, but their purpose is roughly equivalent. Simply stated, scientists use carrier DNA because it increases transformation efficiencies by 10- to 100-fold. There are two prevailing theories as to for how this happens:
Sources:
Burgers, PMJ and Percival LJ. Transformation of yeast spheroplasts
without cell fusion. Analytical Biochemistry. 163. 391-397. 1987.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3310730
Gietz RD, Schiestl RH, Willems AR, and Woods RA. Studies
on the transformation of intact yeast cells by the LiAc/SS-DNA/PEG
procedure. Yeast. 11. 355-360. 1995.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7785336
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