Introduction to DNA Cloning - Video Tutorials & Practice Problems
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Introduction to DNA Cloning
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Video transcript
In this video, we're going to begin our introduction to DNA cloning. And so DNA cloning is really just the process of creating many identical copies of DNA. For example, a gene inside of a cell, Like for example, a bacterial cell like E. Coli as you can see down below in this image. And so there are a series of biochemical reactions that researchers can use to produce DNA containing a specific sequence of interest, and we'll be able to talk a little bit about these biochemical reactions as we move forward in our course. Now the DNA with the specific sequence of interest, once it has been produced, it can then be transferred into a host cell. And the host cell can then replicate via its normal process and then the specific sequence of interest can be cloned many times or replicated many times. And so if we take a look at this silly little cartoon that we made down below, notice over here on the far left hand side we have a scientist, and this scientist has made a specific DNA molecule with a, specific sequence of interest, which is here in orange. And so notice that the scientist is saying, hey, I made this for you, saying this to the e coli, the bacterial cell over here, and this guy, this bacterial cell is saying, oh, for me? And so basically what can happen is this DNA, which has the specific DNA sequence of interest, it can be inserted into e coli. And when the e coli replicate via their normal process, they can also clone the DNA, and and this is the process of DNA cloning. And so notice that you can get a lot of replicated, DNA and a lot of that specific gene or sequence of interest, just through DNA cloning. And, again, it's going to be utilizing living cells. DNA cloning utilizes a cell as indicated up above. And so as we move forward in our course, we'll be able to talk more and more about DNA cloning, but for now this here concludes our introduction to DNA cloning and I'll see you all in our next video.
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concept
Cloning with Recombinant DNA
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3m
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In this video, we're going to talk about cloning with recombinant DNA. And so scientists tend to create and clone recombinant DNA for genetic experiments. But what is recombinant DNA? Well, recombinant DNA is really just a molecule that contains DNA from 2 different sources, and these two different sources are often going to be different species. For example, a bacteria and a human. And so bacterial plasmids are going to be very, very important for this lesson. And bacterial plasmids are small, circular DNA molecules that are replicated independently from the bacteria's or the organism's genome, and these bacterial plasmids, these small circular DNA molecules, they can be used as cloning vectors. And cloning vectors are molecules such as plasmids that are capable of carrying a gene of interest, like foreign DNA, into a host cell. And so in our example down below, we're gonna be talking about creating recombinant DNA plasmids to be used as cloning vectors. And so, in this image down below, notice over here on the left hand side, we're showing you the bacterial plasmid, which is this circular, small circular DNA molecule found in bacteria. And then we're showing you a gene of interest here, which could be from a different species, like for example, a human. And so this is DNA from 2 different sources, the bacteria and the human. And so we can create a recombinant DNA molecule, and the recombinant DNA molecule is gonna be a single molecule that has DNA from 2 different sources. And in this example, the recombinant DNA has DNA from the bacterial plasmid, and it also has the gene of interest, which would be from a different species, like, for example, a human. And so you have a single molecule that has bacterial DNA and human DNA. A single molecule with DNA from 2 different sources would be a recombinant DNA molecule. And this recombinant DNA molecule can serve as a cloning vector. And cloning vectors are just, molecules or plasmids that will carry a gene of interest into a host cell. And so this recombinant DNA can be used to carry the gene of interest here into a host cell, like bacteria host cells. And so here we have a few different bacteria here that all have the recombinant DNA molecule and all have the gene of recombinant DNA molecule and all have the gene of interest. And so in other words what we're saying here is that cloning vectors are forms of recombinant DNA that carry the foreign DNA into the host cell. And once the, foreign DNA is in the host cell, it can be replicated by the cell, when the cell goes to replicate itself. And so this is something that we're gonna talk more and more about as we move forward in our course. But for now, this here concludes our brief introduction to cloning with recombinant DNA, and we'll be able to learn more and more about this as we move forward. So I'll see you all in our next video.
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Problem
Problem
Small accessory rings of DNA that replicate independently of an organism's genome are called _____.
A
Recombinant DNA.
B
Plasmids.
C
Clones.
D
Transposons.
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Problem
Problem
In DNA technology, the term 'vector' can refer to:
A
The enzyme that cuts DNA into restriction fragments.
B
The sticky end of a DNA fragment.
C
A SNP marker.
D
A vehicle used to transfer DNA into a living cell.