Micromechanical Piercing Structures for Transformation

[Jeffrey Yuan]

Has anyone tried the technique outlined in the Nov. 1995 issue of BioTechniques 
(vol. 19, pp766-770) by S. Hashmi et. al. for transforming C. elegans.  The 
article details using a silicon wafer that has a large array of 80micron sharp 
projections fabricated on it to transform nematodes.  The authors add DNA to the
wafer and let it briefly absorb and then add worms and let them crawl off the 
wafer during which time the DNA coated projections pierce the worm many times 
and hence introduce the DNA.  The authors study Heterorhabitis and observed an 
8% F1 transformation efficiency (20 - 30 out of 200-350) but state that it 
should work with C. elegans.  It appears to be very intriguing and promising 
since it is very quick and allows for processing of large numbers of worms (n >>
100).

Jeffrey Yuan