In this video, we're going to talk more about the details of step number 1 of DNA cloning, which is creating the recombinant DNA. Creating a recombinant DNA molecule is actually a two-step process within itself that requires step 1a and step 1b. Now, step 1a involves using restriction enzymes to cut the DNA. These restriction enzymes act like tiny molecular scissors because they can cut the DNA molecule. You can see that we're using these scissors in the image to represent the restriction enzymes, and the restriction enzymes are going to cut the DNA.
After the DNA has been cut, the second step, part 1b, is going to be to use ligase enzymes. Ligase enzymes are going to be enzymes that paste the DNA. Essentially, it's going to act like glue. Over here, we have a little bottle of glue which is supposed to be the symbolic representation of ligase enzymes or enzymes that are going to seal together and covalently link the cut DNA molecules. You can see here we've got the cut bacterial plasmid and the cut gene of interest that are being pasted together by the ligase enzymes, which are represented by these little glue bottles that you see here.
At this point, what we have is the final result, which is the recombinant DNA, and that concludes step number 1, the creation of recombinant DNA. This concludes this video and we'll be able to move on to step number 2, in our next video.
