Ch. 20 Vocab Flashcards
the manipulation of organisms or their components to produce useful products
biotechnology
the direct manipulation of genes for practical purposes
genetic engineering
a small, circular, double-stranded DNA molecule that carries accessory genes separate from those of a bacterial chromosome
plasmids
the production of multiple copies of a gene
gene cloning
an endonuclease that recognizes and cuts DNA molecules foreign to a bacterium
restriction enzymes
a specific sequence on a DNA strand that is recognized and cut by a restriction enzyme
restriction site
a DNA segment that results from the cutting of DNA by a restriction enzyme
restriction fragments
a single-stranded end of a double-stranded restriction fragment
sticky end
a linking enzyme essential for DNA replication; catalyzes the covalent bonding of the 3’ end of one DNA fragment to the 5’ end of another DNA fragment
DNA ligase
in genetic engineering, a DNA molecule that can carry foreign DNA into a host cell and replicate there
cloning vector
a set of cell clones containing all the DNA segments from a genome, each within a plasmid, phage, or other cloning vector
genomic library
a large plasmid that acts as a bacterial chromosome and can carry inserts of 100,000 to 300,000 base pairs
bacterial artificial chromosome
a double-stranded DNA molecule made in vintro using mRNA as a template and the enzymes reverse transcriptase and DNA polymerase
complementary DNA (cDNA)
a gene library containing clones that carry complementary DNA in sets
cDNA library
a cloning vector that contains the requisite bacterial promoter just upstream of a restriction site where a eukaryotic gene can be inserted, allowing the gene to be expressed in a bacterial cell
expression vector
a cloning vector that combines the essentials of a eukaryotic chromosome with foreign DNA
yeast artificial chromosome
a technique to introduce recombination DNA into cells by applying a brief electrical pulse to a solution containing the cells
electroporation
a technique for amplifying DNA in vitro by incubating it with specific primers, a heat-resistant DNA polymerase, and nucleotides
polymerase chain reaction
a technique for separating nucleic acids or proteins on the basis of their size and electrical charge, both of which affect their rate of movement through an electric field in gel
gel electrophoresis
a technique that enables specific nucleotide sequences to be detected in a sample of DNA
Southern blotting
a technique that enables specific nucleotide sequences to be detected in a sample of mRNA
Northern blotting
a technique for determining expression of a particular gene
reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction
a technique used to detect the location of a specific mRNA using nucleic acid hybridization with a labeled probe in an intact organism
in situ hybridization
a technique used to discover the function of a gene by cloning it, introducing specific changes into the cloned gene’s sequence, reinserting the mutated gene into a cell, and studying the phenotype of the mutant
in vitro mutagenesis
a method to detect and measure the expression of thousands of genes at one time
DNA microarray assays
a technique used to silence the expression of selected genes
RNA interference
describing a cell that can give rise to all parts of the embryo and adult, as well as extraembryonic membranes in species that have them
totipotent
any relatively unspecialized cell that can produce, during a single division, one identical daughter cell and one more specialized daughter cell that can undergo further differentiation
stem cell
describing a cell that can give rise to many, but not all, parts of an organism
pluripotent
a single base-pair site in a genome where nucleotide variation is found in at least 1% of the population
single nucleotide polymorphism
a single nucleotide polymorphism that exists in the restriction site for a particular enzyme, thus making the site unrecognizable by that enzyme and changing the lengths of the restriction fragments formed by digestion with that enzyme
restriction fragment length polymorphism
pertaining to an organism whose genome contains a gene introduced from another organism of the same or a different species
transgenic animal
an individual’s unique set of genetic markers, detected most often today by PCR or, previously, by electrophoresis and nucleic acid probes
genetic profile
simple sequence DNA containing multiple tandemly repeated units of two to five nucleotides
short tandem repeats
a plasmid of a tumor-inducing bacterium that integrates a segment of its DNA into a chromosome of a host plant
Ti plasmid
an organism that has acquired one or more genes by artificial means; aka transgenic organism
genetically modified organisms
a DNA molecule made in vitro with segments from different sources
recombinant DNA
