Histone H2A as a transfection agent in crayfish hematopoietic tissue cells

We report a novel and highly efficient dsRNA transfection system based on one of the nuclear proteins, namely, histone H2A. RT-PCR semi-quantitative analysis of silencing target gene shows that the transfection efficiency of histone H2A is higher than Effectene or liposome-based transfection systems. Importantly, the high efficiency of histone H2A was associated with very low toxicity to the transfected crayfish hematopoietic tissue (Hpt) cells. The non-toxicity, effectiveness and specificity of histone H2A as a transfection agent provides a cheap, simple, highly efficient and reproducible gene delivery system, particularly for the sensitive cell cultures of crustacean animals such as crayfish and shrimp.