Rate limiting factors for DNA transduction induced by weak electromagnetic field

ABSTRACT

DNA transduction across aqueous solutions has been reported previously. In this study, we examined a few key factors affecting DNA transduction rate in an extremely low frequency electromagnetic field. These include: the chemical composition of the aqueous solutions, the type of experimental vessel, the dilution step, and the origin of the DNA fragments. The results indicate that partially introducing essential ingredients for DNA amplification (i.e. dNTPs and PCR buffer) to the aqueous solution enhanced the transduction rate greatly, and transduction vessels made of hydrophilic quartz yielded more favorable results than vessels made of hydrophobic plastic. In addition, performing a serial dilution to the transduction solution more than doubled the transduction rate compared to that without the dilution step. For the DNA fragments used in this study, there was one with a pathogenic origin and two with non-pathogenic origins. However, all three fragments achieved DNA transduction regardless of the difference in their origins. The experimental setup for eliminating the false positives caused by both biological and potentially physical contamination is also described.

KEYWORDS:

• DNA transduction rate
• extremely low frequency
• DNA origin
• dilution
• transduction vessel

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the following collaborators for their insightful discussion: Dr. Zhensu She, Dr. Rong Li, and Dr. Quansheng Ren from the Peking University, and Dr. Jianxiong Wang from the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Science; we also would like to thank the following individuals for their help in the lab: Xingxing Wu, Caixia Li, Guangyin Ma.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.