Related Product Information
Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent is a proprietary, animal-origin free formulation for the transfection of DNA into eukaryotic cells with low cytotoxicity. This reference provides a recommended procedure to transfect plasmidDNA into GripTite™ 293 MSR Human Embryonic Kidney Cells (Invitrogen Cat. No. R795-07) using Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent (Cat. No. 15338-100).
Important Guidelines for Transfection
Follow these important guidelines when transfecting DNA into GripTite™ 293 MSR cells using Lipofectamine®
LTX Reagent:
- The addition of 600 μg/ml Geneticin® (Catalog No. 10131-027) and 100 u/ml Penicillin/ 100 μg/ml Streptomycin (Catalog No. 15140-122) to media during transfection does not result in cell death for GripTite™ 293 MSR cells. If you wish to use other higher concentrations or other antibiotics during transfection, test your conditions thoroughly.
- Maintain the same seeding conditions between experiments. Use low-passage cells; make sure that cells are healthy and greater than 90% viable before transfection.
- Transfection can be performed both in the presence or absence of serum. Test serum-free media for
- compatibility with Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent.
- We recommend Opti-MEM® I Reduced Serum Medium (Cat. No. 31985-062) to dilute the DNA and Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent before complexing.
- Visit www.lifetechnologies/transfection or contact Technical Service for other specialized transfection protocols (including cell-type specific advice on use of PLUS™ Reagent and antibiotics, and a protocol for vector-based RNAi).
- Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent performs well with vector-based RNAi experiments. For siRNA and Stealth™ RNAi transfections, we recommend Lipofectamine® RNAiMAX (Cat. No. 13778-075). Go to www.lifetechnologies.com/RNAi or contact Technical Service for more information.
Materials Needed
Have the following reagents on hand before beginning:
- GripTite™ 293 MSR cells maintained in DMEM supplemented with L-glutamine (Cat. No. 11965-084), 0.1 mM MEM Non-Essential Amino Acids Solution (Cat. No. 11140-050), 10% Fetal Bovine Serum (Cat. No. 26140- 079), and 600 μg/ml Geneticin® (Catalog No. 10131-027). Grow cells at 37°C with 5% CO2.
- Plasmid DNA of interest (100 ng/μl or higher)
- Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent (store at +4°C until use)
- Opti-MEM® I Reduced Serum Medium
- Appropriate tissue culture plates and supplies
- The day before transfection, trypsinize and count the cells. Plate 2 x 105 cells per well in 0.5 ml of complete growth medium. Cell density should be 50~80% confluent on the day of transfection.
- For each well of cells to be transfected, dilute 0.5 μg of DNA into 100 μl of Opti-MEM® I Reduced Serum Medium without serum.
- For each well of cells, dilute 1.5-3.5 μl of Lipofectamine® LTX into the above diluted DNA solution, mix gently and incubate for 25 minutes at room temperature to form DNA-Lipofectamine® LTX complexes.
- Remove growth medium from cells and replace with 0.5 ml of complete growth medium. Add 100 μl of the DNA-Lipofectamine® LTX complexes directly to each well containing cells and mix gently by rocking the plate back and forth.
- Complexes do not have to be removed following transfection. Incubate the cells at 37°C in a CO2 incubator for 18-24 hours post-transfection before assaying for transgene expression.
To transfect GripTite™ 293 MSR cells in different tissue culture formats, vary the amounts of Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent, DNA, cells, medium and PLUS™ Reagent used in proportion to the relative surface area, as shown in the table (amounts given on a per well basis).
| Culture vessel | Surface area per well1 | Volume plating medium | Cells per well | Volume dilution medium2 | DNA | Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 96-well | 0.3 cm2 | 100 μl | 4 x 104 | 20 μl | 100 ng | 0.3 - 0.7 μl |
| 48-well | 1 cm2 | 200 μl | 1 x 105 | 40 μl | 200 ng | 0.6 - 1.4 μl |
| 24-well | 2 cm2 | 500 μl | 2 x 105 | 100 μl | 500 ng | 1.5 - 3.5 μl |
| 12-well | 4 cm2 | 1 ml | 4 x 105 | 200 μl | 1 μg | 3.0 - 7.0 μl |
| 6-well | 10 cm2 | 2 ml | 1 x 106 | 500 μl | 2.5 μg | 7.5 - 17.5 μl |
1 Surface areas may vary depending on the manufacturer.
2 If the volume of Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent is too small to dispense accurately, and you cannot pool dilutions, predilute Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent 10-fold in Opti-MEM® I Reduced Serum Medium, and dispense a 10-fold higher amount (should be at least 1.0 μl per well). Discard any unused diluted Lipofectamine® LTX Reagent.