plasmid
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.35|Diagram of a bacterium showing chromosomal DNA and plasmids (Not to scale) A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria and archaea; however plasmids are sometimes present in eukaryotic organisms as well. Plasmids often carry useful genes, such as those involved in antibiotic resistance, virulence, secondary metabolism and bioremediation. While chromosomes are large and contain all th
AI overview
A plasmid is a small, circular piece of DNA found in bacteria and other cells that exists separately from the main chromosomal DNA and can copy itself independently. Plasmids are important because they often carry useful genes, such as those for antibiotic resistance or the ability to break down harmful substances.
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Article
35 sectionsContents
- History
- Properties and characteristics
- Classifications and types
- Sequence-based plasmid typing
- RNA plasmids
- Chromids
- Vectors
- Cloning
- Suicide Vectors (plasmids)
- Protein Production
- Gene therapy
- Disease models
- Biosynthetic Gene Cluster (BGC)
- Episomes
- Plasmid maintenance
- Plasmids in eukaryotes
- Eukaryotic cytoplasmic plasmids
- Yeast cytoplasmic plasmids
- Eukaryotic nuclear plasmids
- Yeast nuclear plasmids
- Mammalian nuclear plasmids
- Interaction with chromatin
- Eukaryotic organellar plasmids
- Natural plant mitochondrial plasmids
- Study of plasmids
- Plasmid DNA extraction
- Conformations
- Software for bioinformatics and design
- Plasmid collections
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- General works
- Episomes
- External links
thumb|upright=1.35|Diagram of a bacterium showing chromosomal DNA and plasmids (Not to scale) A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria and archaea; however plasmids are sometimes present in eukaryotic organisms as well. Plasmids often carry useful genes, such as those involved in antibiotic resistance, virulence, secondary metabolism and bioremediation. While chromosomes are large and contain all the essential genetic information for living under normal conditions, plasmids are usually very small and contain additional genes for special circumstances.
Artificial plasmids are widely used as vectors in molecular cloning, serving to drive the replication of recombinant DNA sequences within host organisms. In the laboratory, plasmids may be introduced into a cell via transformation. Synthetic plasmids are available for procurement over the internet by various vendors using submitted sequences typically designed with software, if a design does not work the vendor may make additional edits from the submission.