Chrysotile asbestos fibers mediate transformation of Escherichia coli by exogenous plasmid DNA.

The ability of chrysotile asbestos fibers to introduce the exogenous plasmid pUC18 into Escherichia coli JM109 cells was tested. Cells were transformed with pUC18 DNA although the frequency of transformation was quite low: 759+/-301 transformants were obtained per microgram of pUC18. Plasmids were purified from E. coli which had been transformed by mediation with chrysotile asbestos. Following this, the plasmids were confirmed to be pUC18 by Southern hybridization. This asbestos-mediated transformation was optimal within 5 min when 10 mg ml(-1) of asbestos was used. Plasmids up to 7.69 kb were introduced by this method.