cloning vector

cloning vector

n.

An autonomously replicating plasmid having regions into which foreign DNA can be inserted.

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vector

1. a carrier, especially the animal (usually an arthropod) which transfers an infective agent from one host to another, e.g the tsetse fly, which carries trypanosomes from animals to humans, dogs, bats and other animals that transmit the rabies virus. In molecular biology, a DNA molecule which serves to transfer DNA into a host cell.

2. a quantity possessing magnitude, direction and sense (positivity or negativity).

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biological vector

an arthropod vector in whose body the infecting organism develops or multiplies before becoming infective to the recipient individual.

cloning vector

a DNA molecule used to transfer an inserted DNA segment into a host cell. Includes other viruses, phages and bacterial plasmids. Called also cloning vehicle.

mechanical vector

an arthropod vector that transmits the infective organisms from one host to another but is not essential to the life cycle of the parasite.

shuttle v's

vectors which contain both prokaryotic and eukaryotic replication signals, thus allowing replication of the vector in both kinds of cells.

targeting vector

a vector carrying a DNA sequence that is able to take part in a specified chromosomal crossover in the host.