Plasmid Extraction Essay

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Aim To study the extraction of plasmid DNA in E.Coli. Introduction Plasmid is a genetic component in a cell that able to replicate independently without the chromosomes. Plasmid usually carries genes separate from those in the main DNA of a cell. It is a small circle of double-stranded DNA molecules that found in bacterial cells and often used as vectors in recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant DNA technology also refers to gene cloning process. Gene cloning is the transfer of a fragment of DNA known as insert into a cloning vector and subsequent propagation of recombinant DNA molecule in a host cell. There are several terms used in gene cloning such as insert, vector, host and transformation. Insert is the fragment of DNA of interest which may contain a gene or part of a gene whereas vector is a DNA molecule into which a fragment of DNA is inserted to construct a recombinant DNA molecule, which is capable enter and replicate to produce multiple copies of itself in a host cell. A very common vector includes bacterial plasmid. Moreover, a host cell is the organism that expresses the recombinant DNA molecule. Recombinant DNA technology involves a series of steps. First of all, a fragment of DNA that containing the gene to be cloned is inserted into a circular DNA molecule called vector to produce a recombinant DNA molecule. The vector is than transports the gene into a host. Within the host cell, the vector is multiply and producing a numerous identical copies which consist of the gene to be cloned. When the host cell divides, the copies of recombinant DNA molecule are passed to the progeny and further vector replication takes place. After a large number of cell divisions, a colony of identical host cells is produced. Each cell in the clone contains one or more copies of the recombinant DNA molecule. The gene that carried by the recombinant molecule is

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