A galinstan expansion femtosyringe for microinjection of eukaryotic organelles and prokaryotes

A galinstan expansion femtosyringe enables femtoliter to attoliter samples to be introduced into prokaryotes and subcellular compartments of eukaryote s. The method uses heat-induced expansion of galinstan (a liquid metal allo y of gallium, indium, and tin) within a glass syringe to expel samples thro ugh a tip diameter of about 0.1 mu m. The narrow tip inflicts less damage t han conventional capillaries, and the heat-induced expansion of the galinst an allows fine control over the rate of injection. We demonstrate injection of Lucifer Yellow and Lucifer Yellow-dextran conjugates into cyanobacteria , and into nuclei and chloroplasts of higher organisms. Injection of a plas mid containing the bla gene into the cyanobacterium Phormidium laminosum re sulted in transformed ampiciltin-resistant cultures. Green fluorescent prot ein was expressed in attached leaves of tobacco and Vicia faba following in jection of DNA cantaining its gene into individual chloroplasts.