Comparison of piggyBac transposition efficiency between linear and circular donor vectors in mammalian cells

The piggyBac transposon has recently attracted attention as a tool for transgene integration in mammalian cells. However, previous studies involving piggyBac investigated only transposition from circular DNA, although some linear DNA vectors are used to transfect mammalian cells. In this study, we compared the transposition efficiency of piggyBac between linear and circular DNA. Colony counting assay, luciferase assay, and plasmid rescue assay showed that piggyBac transposon can transpose from linear DNA, but its efficiency is lower than the transposition efficiency from circular DNA. These results suggest that circular DNA is more suitable as donor vectors of piggyBac than linear DNA.