Transformation of Staphylococcus epidermidis and other staphylococcal species with plasmid DNA by electroporation

In this paper, the influence of various parameters on plasmid tranformation by electroporation of Staphylococcus epidermidis Tü3298 was investigated. Cell growth conditions, various concentrations and forms of plasmid DNA, field strength, pulse duration and media for electroporation and regeneration were tested. In order to obtain optimal transformation efficiency, the cells were incubated for 30 min with DNA before pulsing. With the optimized procedure, other staphylococcal species such as S. aureus, S. staphylolyticus and S. carnosus were transformed with an efficiency up to 3× 105 transformants per μg pC194 plasmid DNA.