Did you know that our basic unit of heredity, Gene can be cloned? DNA cloning is the starting point for many genetic engineering approaches to biotechnology research. Gene is the basic heredity unit and occupies a specific location on a chromosome. Gene cloning is the process in which a gene of interest is located and copied (cloned) out of all the DNA extracted from an organism. Most genes code for a specific protein or segment of protein leading to a particular characteristic or function. DNA cloning is used to create a large number of copies of a gene or other piece of DNA. Steps involved in gene cloning are: Isolation of donor DNA fragment or gene, Selection of suitable vector, Incorporation of donor DNA fragment into the vector, Transformation of recombinant vector into a suitable host cell and Isolation of recombinant host cell. The cloned DNA can be used to: Work out the function of the gene, investigate a gene’s characteristics (size, expression, tissue distribution), Look at how mutations may affect a gene’s function and make large concentrations of the protein coded for by the gene. Reproductive cloning and Therapeutic cloning are the other types of Gene cloning.

Reshma Menon

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