Chemically Competent E.coli Cells
1. Inoculate 100ml of medium A with single colony or 0.5ml culture.

2. Grow to mid log phase @37 (OD(600)=0.4-0.8)

3. Keep on ice for 10 minutes

4. Pellet cells at 1500 x g for 10 minutes at 4 C.

5. Resuspend pellet in 1.0 ml of medium A precooled on ice.

6. Then add 5.0 ml of storage solution B.

7. Divide into aliquots of 0.10 ml each and store in -70 c (quick freeze is optional)


Medium A: LB supplemented with 10 mM MgSO4-7H2O and 0.2% Glucose.

Medium B: 36% glycerol, 12% PEG (MW7500), 12 mM MgSO4-7H2O added to LB and sterilized through filtration.


Nishimura, A.,Morita, A., Nishimura, Y., and Sugino, Y. A rapid and highly efficient method for preparation of competent Escherichia coli cells. (1990) Nucleic Acid Res 18:20, p 6169.
Made Feb. 22, 1999; Baker Laboratory

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