DH10B Competent Cells

Product box and its contents: 5 tubes of ElectroMAX DH10B Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, and 2 bottles of SOC medium

What are DH10B competent cells?

The DH10B strain of E. coli is a popular strain for everyday cloning applications due to its high transformation efficiency, its ability to uptake and maintain large plasmids (>30 kb), lack of methylation-dependent restriction systems (MDRS), and blue-white colony screening. DH10B can intake genomic DNA which differentiates it from the DH5α strain. The full DH10B genome was sequenced and published by Durfee et al. in 2008 [1].

Benefits of DH10B competent cells

Genomic mutations make these ideal for transformation of cDNA and genomic DNA libraries
Blue-white screening for easy identification of colonies with recombinant DNA
Available in chemical or electrocompetent format

Which DH10B competent cells are right for you?

	MAX Efficiency DH10B Competent Cells	MAX Efficiency DH10B T1 Phage Resistant Cells*	ElectroMAX DH10B Cells	ElectroMAX DH10B T1 Phage-Resistant Competent Cells	MegaX DH10B T1^R Electrocomp Cells

Best for	High efficiency competent cells for broad area of applications	Broad area of applications Convenient single-use or high-throughput format	High transformation efficiency Library construction and other challenging applications	High transformation efficiency Library construction and other challenging applications	Highest efficiency Highly demanding cloning Library construction applications
Transformation efficiency	>1 x 10⁹ cfu/µg	>1 x 10⁹ cfu/µg	>1 x 10¹⁰ cfu/µg	>1 x 10¹⁰ cfu/µg	>3 x 10¹⁰ cfu/µg
Type of transformation	Chemical	Chemical	Electroporation	Electroporation	Electroporation
Resistance to T1, T5, and φ80 phage contamination	––	✓	––	✓	✓
Available formats	5 x 200 µL/tube	21 x 50 µL/tube 1 x 96 well plate with 20 µL/well	5 x 100 µL/tube	5 x 100 µL/tube	5 x 100 µL/tube

* Strain also available in high-throughput FlexPlate format.

References

Durfee R, Nelson R, Baldwin S, et al (2008) The Complete Genome Sequence of Escherichia coli DH10B: Insights into the Biology of a Laboratory Workhorse. J Bacteriol 190(7):2597–2606.

Competent cells: Featured products

In addition to competent cells, we offer a broad suite of products for the cloning workflow.

Magnified image of purple, rod-shaped bacteria

Microbial
media

Explore types of bacterial growth media to use for cloning, plasmid DNA preparation, and protein expression.

Browse media

Electroporation
cuvettes

Learn more about universal-fit electroporation cuvettes for use with competent cells.

View electroporation cuvettes

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TOPO PCR
cloning kits

Learn more about one-step PCR cloning that combines traditional restriction and ligation cloning.

View TOPO kits

Gibson Assembly
cloning kits

Gibson Assembly cloning kits provide highly efficient, seamless cloning, enabling the assembly of multiple DNA fragments of varying lengths into any vector.

Explore Gibson Assembly cloning

Resources

Have any questions on competent cells or transformation? Click on the resources listed below to access overviews, videos, genotype guides, and educational resources.