Transfect

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To introduce foreign nucleic acids into a cell to produce genetic modification ; to transfer genetic material into eukaryotic cells for experimental or therapeutic purposes ; to artificially deliver DNA or RNA into cultured cells to alter their genotype or phenotype
2. The process of inserting nucleic acid molecules into cells to study gene function or expression ; the act of conveying genetic constructs into a cell's interior for research or medical use ; facilitating the uptake of foreign genetic sequences by cells to induce new characteristics
3. Introducing foreign DNA or RNA into living cells to achieve genetic alteration ; the method of conveying external nucleic acids into cells under laboratory conditions ; manipulating cellular genetics by transferring nucleic acid sequences into the interior of cells for investigation or treatment

Etymology: In the 1950s, researchers studying viruses noticed that bacteriophage DNA alone could enter bacterial cells and start an infection, without the rest of the virus. The new term was built by attaching the prefix "trans-", meaning "across", to "infection", so the process was named for crossing a cell membrane in the way a virus does. The base word goes back to Latin "inficere", "to dye or stain", which later came to mean putting something harmful into a body. Laboratory use then carried the idea over to deliberately introducing foreign DNA into cultured cells, where it now means the same act of carrying genetic material across the membrane, but on purpose.

Synonyms: introduce, insert, transfer