Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a $1.2 billion Life Science and High Technology company, has completed development on the new RapidTransit Transformation Kit. RapidTransit provides a method to quickly prepare custom competent cells at efficiencies suitable for standard cloning purposes.

The RapidTansit system allows for the streamlined and rapid preparation of chemically competent cells from overnight cultures. The key to the system is the RapidTransit Transformation Buffer, which quickly prepares cells for uptake of DNA without the traditional heat shock step. RapidTransit is particularly useful for large format studies that require large amounts of chemically competent cells due to the format being much more economical than standard manufactured competent cells. In addition, RapidTransit may be used in the preparation and transformation of competent cells from a variety of Escherichia coli strains such as K12 cloning strains and B strains used for recombinant protein expression. With RapidTransit, researchers are not limited to commercial strains if convenience is required. The system eliminates complex buffer preparation and lengthy incubation periods found in traditional methods while reducing the number of procedural steps. With few steps and no heat shock, reproducible transformation efficiencies suitable for cloning are achieved, making RapidTransit a convenient method for standard cloning and transformation methods.

"The RapidTransit system is an example of Sigma's commitment to the development of innovative products for cloning and recombinant protein expression," said Keith Joliff, Manager of Global Strategic Marketing, Molecular Biology, at Sigma-Aldrich Corporation. "RapidTransit complements our current line of chemically competent and electrocompetent cells while providing researchers who require specialized strains or economical formats with a convenient alternative."