A simple and efficient procedure for transformation of Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

We describe a simple and efficient procedure for transformation of Schizosaccharomyces pombe.Sz. pombe colonies grown on minimal (SD) plates were directly removed and suspended in a 100 µl reaction mixture containing 70 µl PLATE solution (50% polyethylene glycol-4000, 100 mM lithium acetate, 10 mM Tris–HCl, pH 4.9, and 1 mM EDTA), 10 µl plasmid DNA (1 µg), 10 µl carrier DNA (100 µg) and 10 µl sterile distilled water. After incubation at 30 °C for 1 h followed by heat shock treatment at 42 °C for 15 min, the reaction mixture was spread on a selection plate. The transformation efficiency obtained using the procedure was approximately 8000 transformants/µg DNA. The method is simple and time-saving, making it especially useful for a large number of samples and when a high transformation efficiency is not required. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.