It’s funny how words take on meanings in the cultural consciousness that are different from what they actually mean. I can think of several examples of words used in various fields of science that have taken on new or slightly different meanings when used in a broad context, such as in the public as a whole. One that comes to mind is the word clone (or cloning).
I am a cloner. I have cloned things. Many things. There. I’ve said it. And I’m proud of it.
No, I have not cloned a sheep, a cat, a cow, or even a horse. I have cloned genes.
The word “clone” can be a noun or a verb. As a verb, it is the act of making a copy of something. The noun “clone” means to be genetically identical to something else. So, the genes I have cloned are clones of the genes they were originally cloned from.
Seriously though, it just means duplicates or copies. Exact copies. There are other meanings that have made their way into common speech (PC computers used to be called IBM clones, for example).
Many scientists clone. Very few clone animals. Those that do clone, clone genes.
And cloning genes, doing molecular biology, while it can be frustrating is actually kind of fun. It’s like doing a logic puzzle. DNA, while a complex molecule, is quite elegant. You can make maps of DNA molecules. At the top of this entry is a map of a plasmid (a small, circular piece of DNA--this one is 2686 base pairs long). We use maps often. And on these maps are markers—road signs in a way. These are called restriction sites.
I am a cloner. I have cloned things. Many things. There. I’ve said it. And I’m proud of it.
No, I have not cloned a sheep, a cat, a cow, or even a horse. I have cloned genes.
The word “clone” can be a noun or a verb. As a verb, it is the act of making a copy of something. The noun “clone” means to be genetically identical to something else. So, the genes I have cloned are clones of the genes they were originally cloned from.
Seriously though, it just means duplicates or copies. Exact copies. There are other meanings that have made their way into common speech (PC computers used to be called IBM clones, for example).
Many scientists clone. Very few clone animals. Those that do clone, clone genes.
And cloning genes, doing molecular biology, while it can be frustrating is actually kind of fun. It’s like doing a logic puzzle. DNA, while a complex molecule, is quite elegant. You can make maps of DNA molecules. At the top of this entry is a map of a plasmid (a small, circular piece of DNA--this one is 2686 base pairs long). We use maps often. And on these maps are markers—road signs in a way. These are called restriction sites.
Restriction enzymes (the real term is restriction endonuclease) cut DNA molecules at very specific sequences in the DNA. So, you can use these restriction enzymes to cut the DNA in a predictable manner, and take a piece of DNA from one strand by cutting it with a particular restriction enzyme and insert it into another strand of DNA that has been cut with that same restriction enzyme. The ends will be compatible. In its most basic form, this is cloning.
In the plasmid map at the top, the restriction sites are the ones labeled all along the outside of the circle. They have names like SspI, NdeI, BsaXI, etc. Each of the enzymes listed have a different DNA recognition sequence (a specific sequence of the ACGT molecules that make up DNA).
And when you have a bunch of pieces of DNA you have to put together in a map—it really is a logic puzzle.
If you like crossword puzzles, you may have an aptitude for molecular biology.
And when you have a bunch of pieces of DNA you have to put together in a map—it really is a logic puzzle.
If you like crossword puzzles, you may have an aptitude for molecular biology.
Note: It was far too long and confusing to explain cloning, DNA structure, and genes all in one blog entry. In the next couple of days I'll post a basic explanation of genes, DNA, and chromosomes.
4 comments:
In its most basic form, this is cloning.
I think we often clone one another in one form of another. We are a conglomeration of one another, and each other's influences are socially reproduced. I mean, hell, did you see Tom Cruise's video about scientology? Stupidity can also be cloned...
All I'll say is that our social reactions are genetically based somehow.
i was just talking to vince about cloning and he said "so basically, ecoli is a zerox machine for plasmids right?" maybe it's a good analogy
Great analogy!
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