Principles of biolistic

The term “biolistics” was coined to describe the nature of the delivery of foreign DNA into living cells or tissue through high-speed particle bombardment with a biolistic device – a particle gun. The process allows scientists to transform many important crop species that have been difficult to transform using other methods. The technique uses nucleic acid-coated particles propelled by a pressurized gun (gene gun) to transfect cells or organelles. It can also be used to deliver vaccines.

The method referred to as “biolistic” was developed by John Sanford and co-workers in 1987 as an alternative to currently available methods for introducing foreign DNA in plant cells. It aims at both transient gene expression and stable transformation.

It is a new process which employs high velocity microprojectiles to deliver substances into cells and tissues. Biolistics also known as: Particle Bombardment; Microprojectile bombardment; Particle acceleration; Particle inflow gun; Gene gun: Bio-blaster.

Biolistic has been widely applied among plants geneticists and proved a very appropriate means for transforming various species of plants when either cells/tissues or intracellular organelles are impermeable to foreign DNA.

Millions of DNA-coated metal particles are shot at target cells or tissues using a biolistic device or gene gun. The DNA elutes off the particles that lodge inside the cells, and a portion may be stably incorporated in the host chromosomes.

The plant cell wall is usually impermeable to foreign DNA. Utilization of the gene gun method has shown better results against the various barriers that hinder the delivery of foreign DNA inside the organelle/cell/tissue.
Principles of biolistic