Carborundum and transfer of high MW molecules

[Helen McBride]

 	I have used carborundum dust to inoculate tobacco leaves with a
positive strand plant  virus which is around 7 kb in size. I merely
diluted the RNA in DEPC treated buffer with a bit of carborundum dust and
then gently rubbed 10 ul of this solution onto  young leaves which were
around  5 cm X 3 cm  in size. The dust disrupts the surface cells
allowing inoculation. The trick is to become good enough to disrupt only
the surface cells instead of rubbing hard enough to kill the leaf. It
takes several tries to  get it right. This is a very easy method to
inoculate only particular leaves and watch systemic spread of infection.
I hope that it's useful for your purposes. Good Luck.

Helen_McBride at hlthsci.med.utah.edu