Transfection-mediated cell synchronization: Acceleration of G1-S phase transition by gamma irradiation

We have previously provided evidence that the uptake of DNA into cells is c ell cycle specific following transfection. We show here that, immediately a fter transfection, successfully transfected cells are greatly enriched for cells in early G1 or G0 phase and that, upon removal of the DNA precipitate s, cells progress through G1 and enter S phase in a synchronous fashion. We also demonstrate that this approach can be utilized in meaningful cell-cyc le experiments, and we show that gamma irradiation accelerates the GI-S pha se transition in a cell line with a functionally inactive p53 protein.