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When I look up information related to the identification of disease genes, texts will often refer to the gene being "first cloned." What does "clone" mean in this context? Is it simply a synonym for discovery?

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  • $\begingroup$ Wiki > molecular cloning might help you. $\endgroup$
    – Remi.b
    Dec 4, 2015 at 7:29
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    $\begingroup$ Possible duplicate of Are there multiple meanings to "clone" as in "clone a gene"? $\endgroup$
    – AliceD ♦
    Dec 4, 2015 at 8:14
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    $\begingroup$ @Christiaan I would rather close that question as a duplicate of this one. Chris' answer below is much more informative than the one in the linked question. And yes, it is perfectly "legal" to close older questions as dupes of newer ones - we do it on Stack Overflow all the time. $\endgroup$
    – MattDMo
    Dec 4, 2015 at 18:26
  • $\begingroup$ @MattDMo, agreed. I retracted my vote. $\endgroup$
    – AliceD ♦
    Dec 4, 2015 at 19:16
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    $\begingroup$ @Christiaan I just submitted my duplicate/close vote on the other one - feel free to join in :) $\endgroup$
    – MattDMo
    Dec 4, 2015 at 19:17

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Usually this is used in the context of gene analysis and further characterization. What is done, is that a piece of foreign DNA (either generated by digesting genomic DNA (from human or mouse for example) or by PCR amplification) digested at the end of the DNA to have matching open ends with a bacterial vector.

The DNA of interest is then ligated with the vector and can then be replicated in bacteria and isolated easily in great yields. This plasmid can then further analysed (by restriction analysis, sequencing etc.), the gene or its promoter manipulated and mutated, or in case of protein coding genes the gene overexpressed in the cells. All this is useful to analyze the function of unknown genes. See the figure for a schematic overview (from Campbell AP Biology Book 8th edition, via this website):

enter image description here

Technically making a clone means that you generate multiple genetically identical daughter cells from one precursor.

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  • $\begingroup$ I think that might be a figure from Campbell Biology. I know you put a link, but you may want to attribute it... as it is copyrighted material. Figure 20.2 in the Ninth Edition, page 397. $\endgroup$
    – AMR
    Dec 4, 2015 at 7:33
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    $\begingroup$ Oh, I didn't know that - I have adjusted the information. $\endgroup$
    – Chris ♦
    Dec 4, 2015 at 7:47
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    $\begingroup$ I have seen Campbell so much in my life that I can pick their graphics out from 150 meters... :-) Same with Molecular Biology of the Cell and Janeway's Immunology. I can usually spot Nature's cell biology graphics as well. They are all very branded and distinctive. $\endgroup$
    – AMR
    Dec 4, 2015 at 7:57
  • $\begingroup$ That's right. I never used the Campbell very much... $\endgroup$
    – Chris ♦
    Dec 4, 2015 at 8:01
  • $\begingroup$ So basically, the act of cloning the gene is more or less necessary to sequence and characterize it, thus when people say that a gene is first cloned, they're effectively referring to its full characterization? $\endgroup$
    – Arcadium
    Dec 5, 2015 at 7:07

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