MMT, a High Promising, Cost Effective Micro-carrier for Gene Delivery

Abstract

As an alternative to the conventional but expensive gold micro carriers regularly employed in micro-projectile bombardment method, this study had utilized, novel, promising but cheaper clay particles-MMT (montmorillonite) as micro-carriers for gene transfer. Gene expression with novel micro carriers was reported through the universally employed GUS expression system at both transient and stable expression levels in comparison to the gold and tungsten. Results suggest that GUS expression levels are higher with MMT than tungsten carriers but lower to gold carriers. It is interesting to note that the GUS expression zones are larger (>1 mm) with MMT carriers in comparison to tungsten (0.6 mm) and gold (0.4 mm). Molecular assays on the transformed cells suggest proper gene delivery by MMT carriers. The results suggest that novel micro carriers can be a viable alternative to gold for gene transfer with high promise in minimizing the costs without compromising the transformation efficiency.