Team:IIT Madras/Notebook/Protocols
From 2009.igem.org
IIT Madras
Contents |
Ultracompetent Cell Preparation
Protocol
- Materials/Buffers
- SOB SOLUTION FOR COMPETENT CELL PREPARATION
- 0.5% yeast Extract
- 2% Tryptone
- 10mM NaCl
- 2.5mM KCl
- 10mM MgCl2
- 10mM MgSO4.
- Dissolve all in nanopure water and autoclave
- TRANSFORMATION BUFFER FOR COMPETENT CELL PREPARATION
- 10mM PIPES
- 15mM CaCl2
- 250mM KCl
- Dissolve in nanopure water and adjust pH to 6.7 with KOH or HCl. The add MnCl2 to 55mM and adjust final volume. Sterilize by filtration with 0.45 µm filter. Store at 4C
- Cells were cultured on 2xYT agar plate overnight at 37C.
- 10-12 colonies were cultured in 250ml SOB medium.
- It was incubated at 37C for 1hour. Then the flasks were transferred to 19C. It was incubated till the OD600 reached 0.5
- Flask was placed in ice for 10min.
- The cells were pelleted by spinning at 4000rpm for 10min at 4C.
- Cells were resuspended in 80ml ice cold TB(Transformation Buffer) and stored on ice for 10min.
- It was centrifuged again at 4000rpm for 10min at 4C.
- Pellet was resuspended in 20ml of TB with 1.5ml DMSO.
- Final volume was aliquoted into microcentrifuge tubes (100-500µl) and stored at -80C
Variant
- Caution: The whole procedure after the cells are pelleted out needs to be carried out in ice.
- Caution: TB buffer is heat sensitive, never take it out of ice.
Transformation
Protocol
- 100µl competent cells were thawed on ice
- 2 µl Plasmid DNA added to the tube and shaken gently.
- Mixture left on ice for 30 min.
- Heat shock given at 42C for 2min.
- Incubated on ice for 3-5 min.
- 800 µl of 2xYT broth added.
- Flasks were shaken at 37C for 1hr.
- They were centrifuged at 3000rpm for 5min and the pellet was resuspended into 100ul of the supernatant.
- The 100 µl of the transformation mix was plated on 2xYT agar plates.
- Plates were incubated at 37C overnight.
Variant
- The amount of cells used can be varied greatly from 30ul to100ul.
- Caution: The amount of DNA added should not exceed 10% of the total volume (it generally doesn’t work, don’t flood the cells with DNA)
- The heat shock step greatly varies from one lab to another (anywhere from 30s to 2 mins). For us 2 mins worked fine.
- The cooling step after heat shock can also vary from 2-5 mins.
- Tip: Spinning the cells down reduces the chances of losing transformed cells.