Cloning Vectors

1. What do you mean by Cloning vectors ?

Answer:

Cloning vectors is defined as a small piece of DNA molecule which is used to carry a foreign DNA into the host cell which consists of a capability of self replication and integration into the host cell. They can be plasmid from the bacterium which is a cell from higher organisms.

2. Name the types of Cloning vectors ?

Answer:

There are different types of cloning vectors are which are as follows – Plasmid, Bacteriophage, Bacterial Artificial chromosomes, Yeast Artificial Chromosomes, Phagemids, Cosmids, Human Artificial Chromosome and Retroviral vectors.

3. Write two characteristics of cloning vectors ?

Answer:

The two characteristics of cloning vector are as follows:

• The Vectors should be small in size so that they can easily integrate into the host cell.
• They should consists of a multiple sites for cloning. Cloning DNA consists of origin of replication so that they can self replicate inside the host cell.

4. What is the importance of Bacteriophage in cloning vectors ?

Answer:

Bacteriophage are better in efficiency when compared to the plasmids for cloning large DNA inserts. DNA of 53kb can be packed in bacteriophage. Screening of phage plaques are easier than the screening of recombinant bacterial colonies. M13 phage is an example of bacteriophage.

5. Which is the first used cloning vector ?

Answer:

The first artificial used cloning vector is pBR322. It is a common plasmid which is used in E.coli. It has many application in cloning vectors due to their manageable size. It was created in 1977 by Herbert Boyer. It has high copy number which is useful in genetic engineering.

6. Write the features of plasmid which are used as cloning vector ?

Answer:

The features of plasmid used as cloning vector are:

• They should consists of an origin of replication.
• They should consists of restriction sites.

Cloning vectors are small piece of DNA molecule which is used to carry foreign DNA into the host cell which consists of a capability of self-replication and integration into the host cell. These vectors are used in the analysis of the molecular structure of DNA. The target DNA in the vector is integrated into the specific sites of this vector and ligated by DNA ligase. Phages and Plasmids are examples of cloning vectors.