Transfer and expression of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase and human globin genes in mammalian cells studied by spot hybridization assays.

A spot hybridization assay has been developed for rapid estimations of specific DNA sequences in whole mammalian cells or DNA. This method is applicable to gene-transfer studies in determining the copy number(s) of foreign DNA(s) introduced into mammalian cells. A similar assay has been developed for determining amounts of specific RNA sequences in mammalian cells. It is also shown that this method is applicable to gene-transfer studies and in particular to determining the expression of foreign genes introduced into cells.