遺伝子工学の進歩
オープンアクセス

概要

Advancement in the Field of Gene Cloning

Sonoe O Yanagi

Cloning is a term that most people are familiar with. A clone is a genetically identical duplicate. It may be a gene copy, a cell, or an entire organism. Even a human being. However, while human cloning raises many ethical concerns and is prohibited in most parts of the world, gene cloning has been going on for well over 30 or 40 years, with animal cloning happening more recently. Gene cloning, also known as molecular cloning, is the method of isolating a DNA sequence of interest in order to replicate it several times. Clones are close copies. Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer developed techniques for creating recombinant DNA, a form of synthetic DNA, in 1973. Recombinant DNA is generated by fusing two or more DNA strands together, resulting in DNA sequences that would not normally occur together. To put it another way, selected DNA (or "interest DNA") is inserted into an established organismal genome, such as bacterial plasmid DNA or another vector.