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Q.Cloning vectors.

Odisha ChseOdisha CHSE +2 Science Board Exam 2026Subjective· 3mImportance★★★★★
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Cloning vectors are carrier DNA molecules, capable of independent replication inside a host cell, that are used to insert and multiply a foreign gene of interest as part of recombinant DNA technology.

In recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology, once a gene of interest has been isolated (e.g. cut out with a restriction enzyme), it must be inserted into a suitable carrier molecule to be introduced into and replicated within a host cell (commonly bacteria such as E. coli, or yeast). This carrier DNA molecule is called a cloning vector. The most commonly used cloning vectors are bacterial plasmids - small, circular, extrachromosomal, self-replicating DNA molecules naturally found in bacteria - and bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria), and their derivatives such as cosmids, along with vectors like Ti plasmid (used for plant transformation via Agrobacterium).

An ideal cloning vector must have certain essential features:

  1. Origin of replication (ori) - a specific DNA sequence from which replication starts, allowing the vector (and any DNA linked to it) to multiply independently inside the host cell, and controlling the number of copies made (copy number).
  2. Selectable marker(s) - typically genes conferring resistance to an antibiotic (e.g. ampicillin or tetracycline resistance), which allow the identification/selection of host cells that have successfully taken up the vector (transformants) from those that have not. …

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