Transfection Reagent Selection Guide

Choosing a transfection reagent is easier when you can rely on the work of researchers who have used it before you. During development of each reagent, good transfection efficiency was verified in a variety of cells (as indicated in the product manual). Scientific publications continue to add to the growing list of cells that are transfected well with our transfection reagents. You can view these publications from the links on the product pages. Use the chart below to determine which reagent is right for your cells. For more help on choosing a reagent, review our Introduction to Transfection.

See the Roche X-tremeGENE™ Transfection Database for hundreds more protocols and articles.

✓✓ = excellent ✓ = good/compatible

Reagent	Escort™ III Transfection Reagent (L3037)	Escort™ IV Transfection Reagent (L3287)	Calcium Phosphate Transfection Kit (CAPHOS)	DOTAP Liposomal Transfection Reagent (11202375001)	NeuroPorter™ Transfection Kit (NPT01)
General Guidelines	Primary cells, sensitive cells	Insect cells, mammalian cell lines, some primary cells	Common cell lines	Common cell lines	Neuronal cell lines, glial cells, some primary neurons
Mammalian Cell Lines
16HBE14o-
3LL
6CSFMEo
A549			✓	✓
B16-F10
BAEC			✓
BHK-21				✓
C2C12	✓	✓
Ca Ski
CHO (image)		✓✓	✓
CHOK1		✓✓	✓	✓
COS (image)	✓
COS-1		✓		✓
COS-7		✓	✓	✓
CV-1
D 407
DHD Pro.b
H9c2		✓
HaCaT		✓
HEK293		✓✓	✓	✓
HeLa	✓	✓✓	✓	✓
HepG2	✓			✓
IMR90			✓
Jurkat	✓✓
L929
LNCaP		✓
MCF-7			✓	✓
MDA-MB-435				✓
MDCK			✓
Neuro2A
NIH3T3	✓	✓✓	✓	✓
PC-12 (image)	✓✓		✓
SAOS-2			✓
SHEP
SH-SY5Y			✓
SiHa
SKOV3
T-24		✓
Vero			✓	✓
WI-38			✓	✓
Insect Cell Lines
Sf9 (adherent)		✓✓		✓
Sf9 (suspension)		✓✓
S2 (D. mel.) (image)		✓✓
S2R+		✓✓
T. Ni.	✓	✓✓
Primary Cells
Aortic smooth muscle cells (rat)		✓
Blastocyst (mouse)		✓
Cardiac myocytes (human)		✓
Cardiomyocytes (rat neonatal)	✓✓
Cardiomyocytes (rat)	✓✓
Fibroblasts ( human skin)
Fibroblasts (rat)	✓✓
Germ cells (male rat)	✓✓
Hepatocytes (hampster)	✓✓
Hepatocytes (rat)	✓✓
HLMVEC
H-MVEC
HUVEC		✓
Keratinocytes (human) (image)	✓✓	✓
Myoblasts (rat)		✓
Myoblasts (quail) (image)	✓✓	✓
Oviduct cells (bovine)
Pre-adipocytes (human)
Retinal neurons (chick)	✓✓
Tracheobronchial cells (human)	✓✓
Neuronal & Glial Cells
Astrocytes (image)		✓
C6 Glioma					✓
Hippocampal neurons (primary rat)					✓
NT2					✓
NT2 (differentiated neurons)					✓

Reagent	GeneJuice® Transfection Reagent (70967)	293-Free™ Transfection Reagent (72181)	NovaCHOice® Transfection Kit (72622-M)	RiboJuice™ siRNA Transfection Reagent (71115)	Insect GeneJuice® Transfection Reagent (71259)	Polybrene Infection / Transfection Reagent (TR-1003)
General guidelines	Non-lipid based chemical transfection reagent optimized for maximum transfection efficiency, ease-of-use, and minimal cytotoxicity on a wide variety of mammallian cells.	Animal-free polycationic liposomal transfection reagent optimized for the transfection of HEK293 cells grown in suspension culture.	Optimized transfection reagent specifically developed for mammalian protein production in chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells.	Optimized, easy-to-use siRNA transfection reagent formulated for minimal toxicity.	A proprietary liposome formulation optimized for maximal transfection efficiency of Sf9 insect cells.	A highly efficient method of gene transfer into mammalian cells leveraging infection with retroviral vectors.
L428			✓✓
L591			✓✓
Neuro-2A			✓✓
10T1/2
293T	✓✓		✓✓
3T3 NIH			✓✓		✓✓
3T3 Swiss
3T3-L1
A204
A431
A549			✓✓
alpha TC1-6
AR 42J
As4.1
AtT-20
B50
BC-1
BC-2
BC3
BCBL
BHK-21
C3H/10T1/2
C6
C2C12
Caki-1
Calpan-1
Calu-1
Calu-6
CCL-131
CFPAC-1
Chang Liver
CHO		✓✓	✓✓		✓✓
CHO-7		✓✓	✓✓		✓✓
CHO-IR		✓✓	✓✓		✓✓
CHO-K1		✓✓	✓✓		✓✓
COS-1
COS-7			✓✓
CS-1
CV-1
Daudi
DDTI MF-2
DT40
ECV304
EL4
EVSCC17M
H9c2
HCT-116
HEK293
HeLa			✓✓
HeLa B			✓✓
HeLa T4			✓✓
Hep 3B2.1-7
HepG2			✓✓
Hepa 1-6
Ht-29
HTB-37
HTB-45
Huh-7
HUVEC
IC21
IEC-6
JEG-3
Jurkat
KB
L-6
L-929
MA-10
McA-RH7777
MCF-7			✓✓
MCF-10-2A
MDCK
Melanocyte
MG-63
Neuro 2A
Neuroblastoma
NRK
NT2/D1
OV-1063
OVCAR3
P4
P19
PC12
PA317
PAM212
R2C
RAW 264.7
RBL-2H3
RMP-41
SAOS-2
SC-1
Schneider line2
SK-N-MC
SK-N-SH
SKOV3
STO
SW-480
SW-837
T3M4
TM4
U937
UCD
Vero
Sf9 (adherent)				✓✓
Sf9 (suspension)				✓✓
S2 (D. mel.)
S2R+
T. Ni.
rat HSC			✓✓
Chicken embryo fibroblases			✓✓
Myeloid cells			✓✓
Aortic smooth muscle cells			✓✓
Astrocytes
Angioblasts
Chondrocytes
Chromaffin cells
Epithelial cells:
mammary
prostate
tracheal
Fibroblasts
Keratinocytes			✓✓

Find more protocols and selection guides in the Molecular Biology Guide.