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Bacterial gene carriers are a challenge and an opportunity!

Until recently, bacteria were assessed as a threat to cell laboratories. They grow far faster than animal cell cultures and were therefore considered merely undesired contamination. Recent studies, however, have proven that bacteria can efficiently transfer genetic information to animal cells.
Technical exploitation of the property of bacterial gene carriers to transfer DNA opens up considerable economic opportunities. The obvious assumption is that bacterial gene carriers will have a similar significance for DNA transfection of animal cells, as that long known for agro bacteria in the manipulation of plant cells.
Until now, viruses have been favored for genetic manipulation of animal cells. However, for use in genetic engineering, bacteria have the following decisive advantages:
 

• The methods of genetic engineering were first established using bacteria and are known.
   
• Bacteria have a great capacity to absorb foreign information (50-100 times higher than that of viruses).
   
• Infection with specific bacteria is targeted to defined tissues/organs.
   
• Bacteria can be eliminated specifically from the hosts by administering antibiotics (e.g. penicillin) (not possible when using viruses).
   
• Bacteria are therefore directly suitable for use in somatic gene therapy - e.g. curing selected genetic hereditary diseases by replacing faulty with "healthy DNA".