The influence of the of radiation a He-Ne laser (632.8 nm, 30 W/m2, 5-20 J/m2) on the transformation of Escherichia coli cells with plasmid DNA was studied. The irradiation of a mixture of bacterial cells and plasmid DNA increased the transformation efficiency 2.5-3 times, thus offering an alternative to the heat treatment commonly used. In contrast to the standard techniques, the laser-induced increase in the transformation efficiency was accompanied by a 1.7- to 2-fold increase in cell survival. The effect of the 632.8-nm light, know to be absorbed by membrane porphyrin components, is supposed to be mediated via a modification in the replication and transformation DNA-membrane complexes in E. coli cells.