The human insulin gene contains introns. Since bacterial cells will not excise introns from mRNA, can a gene like this be cloned into a bacterial cell that will produce insulinA. TrueB. False

Question

Leyla Townsend

Biology

11 May, 04:18

The human insulin gene contains introns. Since bacterial cells will not excise introns from mRNA, can a gene like this be cloned into a bacterial cell that will produce insulinA. TrueB. False

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Lorelai Ross · Answer 1

Answer: Yes, the insulin gene can be cloned.

Explanation:

The insulin gene is cloned and this is done using recombinant DNA technology. The trick is that the introns are excluded before the genes are introduced into the bacteria.

This is because the part of the gene that contains the information needed are the exons.

The cells already naturally remove introns. It's called gene splicing.

So in the cloning of insulin, the already spliced mRNA is what is used. This mRNA is copied into a DNA version using an enzyme called reverse transctiptase.

The DNA is then made double stranded using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). This double stranded DNA is just exons, no introns. It is then put into the plasmids and the bacteria and copied.