Description
Heat-shock transformation: plasmid DNA is mixed with chemically competent E. coli, a brief 42 C heat shock drives uptake, cells recover and express the resistance marker, and selective plating yields transformed colonies, with a retry loop when no colonies appear.
Process Flowchart
graph TD
N1["Competent E. coli"]
N2["Plasmid DNA (marker)"]
N3["Selective agar + antibiotic"]
N4["Mix DNA + cells on ice"]
N5["Heat shock 42C, 45s"]
N6["Return to ice"]
N7["Recover in SOC, 37C 1h"]
N8["Plate on selective agar"]
N9["Incubate 37C overnight"]
N10{"Colonies on plate?"}
N11["Transformed colonies"]
N12["Check competency/DNA"]
N1 --> N4
N2 --> N4
N4 --> N5
N5 --> N6
N6 --> N7
N7 --> N8
N3 --> N8
N8 --> N9
N9 --> N10
N10 -->|yes| N11
N10 -->|no| N12
N12 -->|retry| N4
style N1 fill:#ff6b6b,color:#fff
style N2 fill:#ff6b6b,color:#fff
style N3 fill:#ffd43b,color:#000
style N4 fill:#51cf66,color:#fff
style N5 fill:#51cf66,color:#fff
style N6 fill:#51cf66,color:#fff
style N7 fill:#51cf66,color:#fff
style N8 fill:#51cf66,color:#fff
style N9 fill:#51cf66,color:#fff
style N10 fill:#74c0fc,color:#fff
style N11 fill:#b197fc,color:#fff
style N12 fill:#ffd43b,color:#000
Node provenance
Each step below is grounded in a cited source (hover a citation for the full title).
| Step | Role | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Competent E. coli | Triggers & Inputs | Hanahan, D. 1983 |
| Plasmid DNA (marker) | Triggers & Inputs | Cohen, S. N. et al. 1972 |
| Selective agar + antibiotic | Structures & Objects | Cohen, S. N. et al. 1972 |
| Mix DNA + cells on ice | Processing & Operations | Froger, A. et al. 2007 |
| Heat shock 42C, 45s | Processing & Operations | Hanahan, D. 1983 |
| Return to ice | Processing & Operations | Froger, A. et al. 2007 |
| Recover in SOC, 37C 1h | Processing & Operations | Hanahan, D. 1983 |
| Plate on selective agar | Processing & Operations | Cohen, S. N. et al. 1972 |
| Incubate 37C overnight | Processing & Operations | Froger, A. et al. 2007 |
| Colonies on plate? | Intermediates & States | Hanahan, D. 1983 |
| Transformed colonies | Products & Outputs | Cohen, S. N. et al. 1972 |
| Check competency/DNA | Structures & Objects | Hanahan, D. 1983 |
🎨 Color Scheme (5-Color System)
Red
Triggers & Inputs
Triggers & Inputs
Yellow
Structures & Objects
Structures & Objects
Green
Processing & Operations
Processing & Operations
Blue
Intermediates & States
Intermediates & States
Violet
Products & Outputs
Products & Outputs
Process Statistics
- Nodes: 12
- Edges: 12
- Conditionals: 1
- AND Gates: 2
- OR Gates: 1
- Total Gates: 3
Keywords
- transformation
- competent cells
- heat shock
- plasmid
- selection
Sources & References
-
Nonchromosomal antibiotic resistance in bacteria: genetic transformation of Escherichia coli by R-factor DNA
Cohen, S. N.; Chang, A. C.; Hsu, L. , PNAS (1972)
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.69.8.2110 -
Studies on transformation of Escherichia coli with plasmids
Hanahan, D. , Journal of Molecular Biology (1983)
DOI: 10.1016/S0022-2836(83)80284-8 -
Transformation of plasmid DNA into E. coli using the heat shock method
Froger, A.; Hall, J. E. , Journal of Visualized Experiments (2007)
DOI: 10.3791/253