Question

What is a cloning vector?
a) an agent such as a plasmid, used to transfer DNA from an in vitro solution into a living cell.
Or
b) the laboratory apparatus used to clone genes.
Why did you pick your answer... A or b.... Please explain, if you can.,... Thank you

Answer 1

When you're cloning, the idea is to get some genetic material - a new gene or a gene regulator or whatever - into an organism. And you need a way to transport it, a kind of shuttle.

Bacteria with their marvelous circular chromosomes naturally transfer genetic material to each other. They produce a long, pipe like structure and literally shoot the small pieces genetic material from one bacteria to another. The new DNA is then transcribed and translated like all the initial DNA in the original cell. And the new transferred DNA is called a plasmid.

It occurred to scientists that plasmids, because they get DNA into a bacterial cell without destroying it (think about putting the DNA in a pipette and trying to put it into the cell that way) and it gets expressed. So they need a way to make artificial plasmids, called cloning vectors, which can be transferred into the cells which they want to express the cloned genes.