What is gene gun?

Gene Gun

A gene gun is a device used to introduce genetic material to cells through the use of tiny DNA-coated particles fired at high velocity into a cluster of cells. Gene guns are used in laboratory settings to conduct research, develop new products, and tag samples of materials.

The gene gun was created as a new way of proceeding with gene transformation of grains in response to the difficulty of getting bacteria across grain cell walls. It was designed by John Sanford at Cornell University in 1987 and made introducing new genetic material into plant cells much easier than previous methods, such as the use of viruses or agrobacterium.
The gene gun has a wide range of uses today and can be used on many organisms such as bacteria, yeasts, and mammalian cell lines, particularly those which have previously been difficult or impossible to transfect such as non-dividing cells or primary cells.The transformation does not apply only to unicellular organisms but also whole objects such as leaves or entire animals: Drosophila and mice (Wetterauer, Brigit et al.). It has been particularly useful for chloroplasts as well because no bacteria or viruses were known to infect chloroplasts and this method has allowed for a way to introduce foreign DNA into the chloroplasts.

There are three common methods of genetic engineering: the plasmid method, the vector method, and the biolistic (gene gun) method. The most well known of the three is the plasmid method, which is generally used for altering microorganisms such as bacteria. The vector method is similar to the plasmid method, but its products are inserted directly into the genome via a viral vector. The third method is the biolistic method which will be studied in detail below. For more detailed explanations of the plasmid and vector methods of genetic engineering, visit ThinkQuest .

Gene Gun on Plants

The target of a gene gun is often a callus of undifferentiated plant cells growing on gel medium in a petri dish. After the gold particles have impacted the dish, the gel and callus are largely disrupted. However, some cells were not obliterated in the impact, and have successfully enveloped a DNA coated tungsten particle, whose DNA eventually migrates to and integrates into a plant chromosome.

Cells from the entire petri dish can be re-collected and selected for successful integration and expression of new DNA using modern biochemical techniques, such as a using a tandem selectable gene and northern blots.

Selected single cells from the callus can be treated with a series of plant hormones, such as auxins and gibberellins, and each may divide and differentiate into the organized, specialized, tissue cells of an entire plant. This capability of total re-generation is called totipotency. The new plant that originated from a successfully shot cell may have new genetic (heritable) traits.

The use of the gene gun may be contrasted with the use of Agrobacterium tumefaciens and its Ti plasmid to insert genetic information into plant cells. See transformation for different methods of transformation in different species.

Gene Gun on Human

Gene guns have also been used to deliver DNA vaccines.

The delivery of plasmids into rat neurons through the use of a gene gun, specifically DRG neurons, is also used as a pharmacological precursor in studying the effects of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease.

The gene gun technique is also popularly used in an edible vaccine production technique, where the nano-gold particles coated with plant genetic material under the high vacuum pressurized chamber are transformed into suitable plant tissues.

The gene gun has become a common tool for labeling subsets of cells in cultured tissue. In addition to being able to transfect cells with DNA plasmids coding for fluorescent proteins, the gene gun can be adapted to deliver a wide variety of vital dyes to cells.

Gene gun bombardment has also been used to transform C. elegans, as an alternative to microinjection.

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