Electrocompetent Cells

Electrocompetent cells work using the electroporation process. Electrical pulses created pores that allows genetic material to permeate the bacterial membrane. Invitrogen offers a variety of electrocompetent E. coli cells to reliably clone your DNA with high efficiency. The convenient packaging formats and a variety of electroporation cuvettes will fulfill all of your electrocompetent cell transformation requirements.

Electroporation Cuvettes

 Choose the right electroporation cuvette for your strain. Available in a variety of sizes.

Electrocompetent cells available from Invitrogen


Cell Strain

Description Application Transformation Efficiency
MegaX DH10B™ T1R Electrocomp™ Cells

MegaX DH10B™ T1R Electrocomp™ cells are the highest-efficiency electrocompetent cells.

See additional details below.
Ideal for highly demanding cloning and library construction applications >3 x 1010 cfu/μg
ElectroMAX™ DH10B™ T1 R Cells


High efficiency cells derived from DH10B strain. tonA genotype for T1 and T5 phage resistance. Efficient cloning of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomic DNA. Efficient plasmid rescue from eukaryotic genomes. >1 × 1010 cfu/μg
ElectroMAX™DH10B™ Cells


Derived from the DH10B™ strain in a high efficiency electrocompetent format. Also available in bulk format. Efficient cloning of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomic DNA and efficient plasmid rescue from eukaryotic genomes. >1 × 1010 cfu/μg
ElectroMAX™
DH5α-E™ Cells

Derived from the DH5α™ strain. Suitable for transformation by electroporation. Procedures requiring high transformation efficiencies, such as cDNA library generation or with limited input DNA. >1 × 1010 cfu/μg
One Shot® TOP10 Electropcomp™ Cells
Genetically similar to the DH10B strain. Available in single-use One Shot® format. Used for general cloning applications. Found in many TOPO® cloning and expression kits. >1 × 1010 cfu/μg
TOP10 Electropcomp™ Cells
Genetically similar to the reliable DH10B strain. Used for general cloning applications. Found in many TOPO® cloning and expression kits. >1 × 1010 cfu/μg
TOP10F’ Electropcomp™ Cells
Genetically similar to the reliable DH10B strain with the F’ genotype.  Used for general cloning applications.  >1 × 1010 cfu/μg
ElectroMAX™ DH12S™ Cells A derivative of DH10B™ are suitable for transformation by electroporation.
A unique genotype to support production of exceptionally clean ssDNA.
>1 × 1010 cfu/μg
ElectroMAX™ Stbl4™ Competent Cells

Suitable for transformation by electroporation. Specifically designed for cloning unstable inserts.
>5 × 109 cfu/μg

Highest-efficiency electrocompetent cells

MegaX DH10B™ T1R Electrocomp™ Cells are the highest-efficiency electrocompetent cells available (Figure 1), with a guaranteed three-fold greater number of colonies per transformation (>3 x 1010 cfu/μg of pUC control DNA). They are ideal for highly demanding cloning and library construction applications. MegaX cells have the same genotype as the widely used DH10B™ T1R strain, including tonA to prevent T1 and T5 lytic phage infection and safeguard your valuable clones and libraries; however, they are manufactured using an improved process that results in a significantly higher transformation efficiency. Available in the bulk Electrocomp™ format.


Figure 1: MegaX  DH10B™  T1R  Electrocomp™  cells consistently outperform the competition. L: E.cloni®  10G SUPREME cells (Lucigen); G:GC10™  Thunderbolt™ cells  (GeneChoice);  S: ElectroTen-Blue®  electroporation-competent cells (Stratagene).