5.13b Hosting recombinant DNA

Key Points:
1. In 5.13a Recombinant DNA was introduced. It is a mixture of the human gene and the bacterial plasmid.
2. Inside a virus is the nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) and around this is the protein shell. The first thing to do is to remove the RNA from the virus. The capsid is all that is required. The plasmids are taken up by the virus and the virus will act like a vector
3. This will help transfer the DNA into the host cell. The reason for this is that this virus is known as a phage, and this infects bacterial cells. The virus will attach itself to the cell membrane of the bacteria and insert the DNA into the host cell. At the end of this process, there is a bacterial cell which contains the recombinant DNA including the human gene for insulin. Transgenic.