Transformation of a methylotrophic bacterium, Methylobacterium extorquens, with a broad-host-range plasmid by electroporation.

Electroporation was used to transform the methylotrophic bacterium Methylobacterium extorquens with broad-host-range plasmid pLA2917, which contains a gene specifying resistance to kanamycin. Plasmid DNA was introduced into M. extorquens in the presence of an electric pulse, and kanamycin-resistant transformants were obtained. These transformants harbored plasmid DNA that was identical to plasmid pLA2917. We examined several factors independently and found up to 8 x 10(3) transformants per microgram of DNA using 10 pulses with a duration of 300 microseconds at a field strength of 10 kV/cm.