lundi 17 février 2014

The Process Of Molecular Cloning

By Armand Zeiders


Cloning, as we all know, is basically making a copy of something. Under the guise of molecular cloning, this means that DNA from a specific cell is being reproduced. This type of cloning is used by scientists for many reasons, but often it is because so much can be learned about the proteins in our cells. By studying proteins and learning what happens when proteins are altered, scientists can develop new therapies to fight many serious medical conditions and diseases.

Molecular cloning is a multi-step process which begins with the isolation of the DNA in a cell that contains the gene the scientist wishes to clone. The scientist will select a host and cloning vector for this process. The vector is a miniscule portion of DNA and into this fragment, another strand DNA can be added. Vectors generally derive from plasmids and also often from viruses, and these vectors are known as recombinant DNA.

The second step is to take that DNA that you have isolated and purify it and then fragment the DNA with a restriction enzyme. These restriction enzymes will create staggered cuts in the DNA in specific sequences and these will generate fragments that have cohesive endings.

These fragments will then be incorporated into plasmids or vectors, which are the genetic structures inside of cells that are capable of replication within a cell independently of the chromosomes. For molecular cloning, the type of plasmid that is utilized has just one single restriction site. When this is separated or split by the restriction enzyme, new cohesive ends are generated. These ends are identical to the original DNA fragments.

These new fragments now line up perfectly with the plasmid and DNA ligase, which is an enzyme, is added to form a bond. Once that is accomplished, these plasmids will be placed into host cells. After they are placed into the host cells, the plasmid or rather the vector, will multiply and create new, identical copies of the altered DNA and the gene you are trying to replicate. Then the host cell divides and even more copies are made until you have a cluster or clone of the host cells.

This is a highly specialized and complicated process, and many scientists studying molecular biology will have a biotechnology company produce the gene clones and recombinant proteins for them, as well as having the firm perform site-directed mutagenesis. All of these services can help make it easier for scientists to study proteins, peptides and amino acids within our cells.




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