Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Author Spotlight: Methods for Electroporation and Transformation Confirmation in Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM20016
Published on: June 23, 2023
Natural and Electroporation-Mediated Transformation of Methanococcus voltae Protoplasts
G B Patel1, J H Nash, B J Agnew
1Institute for Biological Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A OR6.
Abstract:
The lack of high-efficiency transformation systems has severely impeded genetic research on methanogenic members of the kingdom Archaeobacteria. By using protoplasts of Methanococcus voltae and an integration vector, Mip1, previously shown to impart puromycin resistance, we obtained natural transformation frequencies that were about 80-fold higher (705 transformants per mug of transforming DNA) than that reported with whole cells. Electroporation-mediated transformation of M. voltae protoplasts with covalently closed circular Mip1 DNA was possible, but at lower frequencies of ca. 177 transformants per mug of vector DNA. However, a 380-fold improvement (3,417 transformants per mug of DNA) over the frequency of natural transformation with whole cells was achieved by electroporation of protoplasts with linearized DNA. This general approach, of using protoplasts, should allow the transformation of other methanogens, especially those that may be gently converted to protoplasts as a result of their tendency to lyse in hypotonic solutions.
Related Concept Videos
Transformation
Bacterial Transformation
Griffith made an unexpected discovery when he killed the pathogenic strain and mixed its remains with the live, non-pathogenic strain. Not only did the mixture kill host mice, but it also contained living pathogenic bacteria that...
What is Natural Selection?
Nature and Nurture
Transformers
The iron core has a substantial relative permeability. Therefore, the magnetic field lines generated due to the current in one winding are almost entirely confined within the core, such that the same magnetic flux permeates each turn of both...
The Ideal Transformer
Ampere's Law forms the basis of understanding the magnetic field within the transformer. It states that the integral of the magnetic field intensity's tangential...

