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Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

Genetic Engineering, Procedures

Standard Article

Francis J. Schmidt¹

¹University of Missouri-Columbia

DOI: 10.1002/0471238961.1618150319030813.a01.pub2
Article Online Posting Date: November 19, 2004

Abstract | Full Text: PDF (245K)

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Abstract

Genetic engineering refers to the determination and manipulation of the information content of a cell. The contemporary meaning refers to DNA manipulation, primarily involving the construction and characterization of recombinant DNA molecules. Since the mid-1990s it has been possible to determine the entire genomic DNA sequence of an organism, which has led to qualitatively new ways of understanding biological information and evolution.

Keywords: DNA; restriction enzyme; recombinant DNA; antibiotic; plasmid; artificial chromosome; vector; bacteriophage; phage; cosmid; contig; genome; DNA sequence; combinatorial library; genomic library; cDNA library; polymerase chain reaction; mutagenesis; proteins