In this lesson you will be introduced to the various technologies used by Molecular Biologist to isolate and manipulate DNA.
By the end of this lesson you should be able to
- clearly define biotechnology, molecular biology, genetic engineering, microarray, CRISPR-Cas9, gene cloning, and recombinant DNA,
- explain how a defined segment of DNA from one species is isolated and then joined with DNA from a second species to produce recombinant DNA.
- clearly state the roles of restriction enzymes and DNA ligase in the production of recombinant DNA
- explain why sticky ends are preferred over blunt ends when cloning DNA.
- outline, using a diagram, the steps required to clone a segment of DNA into bacterial cells.
- describe how molecular biologist screen clones in bacterial plasmids using markers (Example antibiotic resistance and X-gal)
- explain how clones are stores in libraries including plasmid libraries, phage libraries and bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries.
- explain how cDNA libraries are made and compare it against a phage or plasmid library.
Let’s start by examining in detail the significance of varios DNA toolbox technologies to successfully isolate and clone a chosen gene into bacterial cells. Please watch the video lesson below and take detailed notes.
Below is a video lesson how to screen clones using markers, on how to store clones in libraries and how to generate cDNA libraries from mRNAs. Once again watch this lesson carefully, and take detailed notes.
Cloning a Gene in Bacteria Activity
Watch the short animation describing the cloning of a gene in a bacterial plasmid. Next write a narrative describing all the steps needed to clone a gene.