The use of electroporation in developmental biology

Abstract

During the formation of a complex organism, cells divide, die, migrate, and differentiate. Biologists have established tools to observe those phenomena but also to change their course, which subsequently enables to infer causal relationships between various events occurring in different cell groups. More precisely, present approaches mostly rely on modifications of gene expression. For instance, cells are labeled with fluorescent proteins and tracked within the embryo, molecular signals are switched on and off to perturb regulatory pathways. Importantly, in all those experiments, the exogenous genetic material must be delivered at the right place and with the appropriate timing: requirements that can both be fulfilled by electroporation. After 15 years of constant refinement, this technique has now superseded methods like viral infection, microinjection, and lipofection. Applications encompass a large number of model organisms, targeted anatomical structures, and molecular biology techniques.