Meaning & use
transfection
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Meaning
noununcountablebiologytechnical
A laboratory method of deliberately introducing foreign DNA or RNA into the cells of animals or humans so the cells can use it.
Grammar: Usually uncountable for the technique: transfection of cells; countable when counting experiments.
Patterns
- transfection of cells with something
- transfection with something
Transfection of the cultured cells with a glowing protein gene let the team watch gene activity.
The lab compared two reagents to improve transfection efficiency.
Successful transfection depends on keeping the cells healthy.
Word forms
| plural | transfections |
|---|
Common combinations
- transient transfection
- Transient transfection gives temporary expression of the gene.
- stable transfection
- Stable transfection keeps the gene in the cells' DNA over many divisions.
- transfection efficiency
- Transfection efficiency was only thirty percent.
- transfection reagent
- They added the transfection reagent to the plate.
- cell transfection
- Cell transfection is routine in many labs.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gene delivery
- Gene delivery is a wider phrase that includes viral methods, whereas transfection usually means non-viral delivery into animal cells.
- transformation
- Transformation names the similar process in bacteria or yeast, so it fits when the host is not an animal cell.
- transduction
- Transduction means delivery by a virus, which is a different mechanism from typical transfection.
Word family
- transfect verb
- to introduce foreign genetic material into cells
- transfected adjective
- describing cells that have taken up foreign DNA
- transfectant noun
- a cell that has been transfected
- infection noun
- invasion of the body by a germ
Commonly confused: transfection or transformation? transfection or transduction?
transfection vs transformation
Transformation is the equivalent process in bacteria; transfection is used for animal cells.
transfection vs transduction
Transduction uses a virus to carry genes into a cell, while transfection uses chemical or physical methods.
Practice
Researchers used ____ to put a new gene into cultured human cells.
Choose one answer.
Transfection is the technique for introducing foreign genetic material into animal cells. The other words name unrelated biological processes.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “transfection”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.