Biolistic transformation

Biolistic transformation is also known as particle bombardment. Its principle is that foreign DNA is adsorbed on the surface of tungsten or gold particles. Under the push of high pressure, the particles are injected into host cells. Particle bombardment can realize both stable and transient transformation.

Various factors affect the efficiency of bombardment in patterns of complex interactions [69]. Biological parameters (cell type, growth condition, and cell density) and instrumental settings (particle type and size, vacuum and pressure level, target distance) are important variables [70].

Particle bombardment is the most powerful among all the genetic transformation methods. It is not subject to the limitations of cell types of host or species. For fungi, particle bombardment is sufficiently efficient for those organisms that are difficult to culture or from which protoplasts are hard to prepare. Particle bombardment is easy and convenient to operate. However, instruments and consumables for particle bombardment are expensive. It will only be considered in the case where other methods fail to work. At present, particle bombardment has been utilized to successfully transform A. nidulans and T. reesei [71, 72], etc.