High efficiency DNA-mediated transformation of primate cells.

Tissue culture cells from several mammalian species, including three primate lines, were transfected with recombinant vectors carrying Escherichia coli xanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase or Tn5 aminoglycoside phosphotransferase dominant selectable markers. Human HeLa and SV40-transformed xeroderma pigmentosum cells exhibited stable transformation frequencies of at least 10(-3) (0.1 percent). CV-1, an African green monkey kidney cell line, could be stably transformed with the exceptionally high frequency of 6 X 10(-2) (6 percent).