Everything about Transgene totally explained
A
transgene is a
gene or
genetic material that has been transferred by any of a number of
genetic engineering techniques from one organism to another.
In its most precise usage, the term
transgene describes a segment of
DNA containing a gene sequence that has been isolated from one organism and is introduced into a different organism. This non-native segment of DNA may retain the ability to produce
RNA or
protein in the
transgenic organism, or it may alter the normal function of the transgenic organism's genetic code. In general, the DNA is incorporated into the organism's
germ line. For example, in higher
vertebrates this can be accomplished by injecting the foreign DNA into the
nucleus of a fertilized
ovum. This technique is routinely used to introduce human disease genes or other genes of interest into strains of
laboratory mice to study the function or
pathology involved with that particular gene.
In looser usage, transgene can describe any DNA sequence, regardless of whether it contains a gene coding sequence or it has been artificially constructed, which has been introduced into an organism or
vector construct in which it was previously not found.
In practical terms, a transgene can be either a
cDNA (complementary DNA) segment, which is a copy of
mRNA (messenger RNA), or the gene itself residing in its original region of genomic DNA. The difference between these two lies in the fact that the cDNA has been processed to remove
introns and also, usually, doesn't include the
regulatory signals that are embedded around and in the gene. The advent of annotated cloned regions of the genome alongside the genome sequence, in particular as large clones in
BACs (bacterial artificial chromosomes) or
fosmids, and
recombineering, which is the method that permits the engineering of these large clones, has changed the practice of transgenesis from its origins with cDNA-based constructs towards the more reliable genomic-based constructs.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Transgene'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://transgene.totallyexplained.com">Transgene Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
