Particle bombardment: a universal approach for gene transfer to cells and tissues.

In the past year, significant progress in the field of gene transfer has been made possible by refinement of the technique of particle bombardment. The process has been utilized for the study of gene expression in plastids and mitochondria, the production of transgenic crop plants and gene transfer into live animals. Bombarding tissues of live animals with genes that code for antigenic proteins may provide an effective means of vaccination.