Product box and its contents: 21 tubes of One Shot Mach1 T1R Chemically Competent E. coli, 1 tube of pUC19 DNA, and one tube of SOC medium

DH5α competent E. coli is one of the most common laboratory strains. We offer several versatile strains for general cloning applications within a variety of transformation efficiencies and formats to suit your workflow and budget.

Why is DH5α good for cloning?

DH5α is a popular E. coli strain for routine cloning due to several key features:

  • Blue/white screening with lacZ∆M15
  • High insert stability due to recA1 mutation
  • High yield and quality of DNA due to endA mutation
  • High transformation efficiency (Figure 1)

E. coli DH5α competent cell strains

DH5α competent cells for routine cloning

DH5α is one of the most common laboratory E. coli strains utilized for small plasmid propagation and is selected for its ability to achieve high transformation efficiency. Usually, this strain is transformed using the calcium chloride (CaCl2) method; specially designed strain derivatives like DH5α-E can be transformed using electroporation.

 Subcloning Efficiency™ DH5α Competent CellsLibrary Efficiency DH5α Competent CellsMAX Efficiency DH5α Competent Cells
 
Product box and its contents: 4 tubes of Subcloning Efficiency DH5α Competent Cells and 1 vial of pUC19 DNA
Product box and its contents: 5 tubes of Library Efficiency DH5α Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, and 2 bottles of SOC medium
Product box and its contents: 5 tubes of Max Efficiency DH5α Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, 2 tubes of SOC medium
Best for
  • General, everyday use
  • Cloning difficult constructs
  • Applications using limiting amounts of DNA
  • Increase insert stability
  • Improve the quality of plasmid DNA prepared from minipreps
Type of transformationChemicalChemicalChemical
Transformation efficiency

>1 x 106 cfu/µg>1 x 108 cfu/µg>1 x 109 cfu/µg
Available formats

4 x 500 µL/tube

5 x 200 µL/tube

5 x 200 µL/tube

Check out other strains for routine cloning

E. coli DH5α-T1R competent cell strains

DH5α-T1R cells have the benefit of the tonA (fhuA) genotype for T1, T5, and φ80 phage resistance, with the same genetic markers and growth properties as the original strain.

 MAX Efficiency DH5α-T1R Competent Cells MultiShot DH5α T1R Competent Cells
 
Product box and its contents: 21 tubes of One Shot MAX Efficiency DH5α-T1R Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, 1 bottle of SOC medium
Product box and its contents: 1 96-well plate of MultiShot StripWell DH5α T1R Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, and 2 bottles of SOC medium
Best for
  • Library construction
  • Cloning small amount of DNA
  • High throughput applications
Type of transformationChemicalChemical
Transformation efficiency

>1 × 109 cfu/µg>1 x 108 cfu/µg
Available formats

DH5α competent cells for specialized cloning applications

 MAX Efficiency DH5αF´IQ Competent CellsElectroMAX DH5α-E Competent Cells
 
Product box and its contents: 5 tubes of MAX Efficiency DH5αF'IQ Competent Cells, 2 tubes of F'IQ Lawn Cell Assay, 1 vial of M13mp18 RF DNA, and 2 tubes of SOC medium
Product box and its contents. 5 tubes of ElectroMAX DH5α-E Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, and 2 bottles of SOC medium
Best for
  • M13 cloning
  • Protein expression in non-BL21 strain
  • Generation of cDNA libraries
  • Transformations with limited input DNA
Type of transformationChemicalElectroporation
Transformation efficiency

>3 x 108 cfu/µg>1 x 1010 cfu/µg
Available formats

5 x 200 µL/tube

5 x 100 µL/tube

Shop all Invitrogen DH5α competent cells

DH5α competent cells for routine cloning

DH5α is one of the most common laboratory E. coli strains utilized for small plasmid propagation and is selected for its ability to achieve high transformation efficiency. Usually, this strain is transformed using the calcium chloride (CaCl2) method; specially designed strain derivatives like DH5α-E can be transformed using electroporation.

 Subcloning Efficiency™ DH5α Competent CellsLibrary Efficiency DH5α Competent CellsMAX Efficiency DH5α Competent Cells
 
Product box and its contents: 4 tubes of Subcloning Efficiency DH5α Competent Cells and 1 vial of pUC19 DNA
Product box and its contents: 5 tubes of Library Efficiency DH5α Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, and 2 bottles of SOC medium
Product box and its contents: 5 tubes of Max Efficiency DH5α Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, 2 tubes of SOC medium
Best for
  • General, everyday use
  • Cloning difficult constructs
  • Applications using limiting amounts of DNA
  • Increase insert stability
  • Improve the quality of plasmid DNA prepared from minipreps
Type of transformationChemicalChemicalChemical
Transformation efficiency

>1 x 106 cfu/µg>1 x 108 cfu/µg>1 x 109 cfu/µg
Available formats

4 x 500 µL/tube

5 x 200 µL/tube

5 x 200 µL/tube

Check out other strains for routine cloning

E. coli DH5α-T1R competent cell strains

DH5α-T1R cells have the benefit of the tonA (fhuA) genotype for T1, T5, and φ80 phage resistance, with the same genetic markers and growth properties as the original strain.

 MAX Efficiency DH5α-T1R Competent Cells MultiShot DH5α T1R Competent Cells
 
Product box and its contents: 21 tubes of One Shot MAX Efficiency DH5α-T1R Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, 1 bottle of SOC medium
Product box and its contents: 1 96-well plate of MultiShot StripWell DH5α T1R Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, and 2 bottles of SOC medium
Best for
  • Library construction
  • Cloning small amount of DNA
  • High throughput applications
Type of transformationChemicalChemical
Transformation efficiency

>1 × 109 cfu/µg>1 x 108 cfu/µg
Available formats

DH5α competent cells for specialized cloning applications

 MAX Efficiency DH5αF´IQ Competent CellsElectroMAX DH5α-E Competent Cells
 
Product box and its contents: 5 tubes of MAX Efficiency DH5αF'IQ Competent Cells, 2 tubes of F'IQ Lawn Cell Assay, 1 vial of M13mp18 RF DNA, and 2 tubes of SOC medium
Product box and its contents. 5 tubes of ElectroMAX DH5α-E Competent Cells, 1 vial of pUC19 DNA, and 2 bottles of SOC medium
Best for
  • M13 cloning
  • Protein expression in non-BL21 strain
  • Generation of cDNA libraries
  • Transformations with limited input DNA
Type of transformationChemicalElectroporation
Transformation efficiency

>3 x 108 cfu/µg>1 x 1010 cfu/µg
Available formats

5 x 200 µL/tube

5 x 100 µL/tube

Shop all Invitrogen DH5α competent cells


Competent cells: Featured products

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

Resources

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

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Stay up-to-date on industry trends in molecular cloning with on-demand webinars.

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Short articles and digital handbook for cloning applications

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Get support for your cloning experiments

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

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