Skip to main content

Types of plasmid!

I learnt genetic engineering, and of course, about plasmids. But, when I was questioned about the types of plasmid, God, I was blinking! :(

I had known plasmid only as a vector most times, I was aware of the types of vectors but, types of plasmids? :(

Okay, It's not a great shame, I learnt it now! Let me share here about the types of plasmids, just what I learnt.

Based on the functions of a plasmid they are classified as,

Resistance Plasmids:
These are the plasmids which have resistance genes. For example the gene coding beta lactamase which offers resistance against beta lactum antibodies like ampicillin. This is an important thing which is used while performing cloning experiments for checking the transformation. This was called as "R Factor" before the discovery of plasmids.

Fertility plasmids (F Plasmids):
And, these type of plasmids they have important genes called tra genes, never wonder, tra genes are transfer genes which are essential for the non sexual transfer in bacteria. This helps in formation of Pili and conjugation as a result.

Col plasmids:
These plasmids are the ones which have special genes for inhibiting the growth of similar bacterial strains i.e., bacteriocins.

Degenerative plasmids:
These are things which contains special genes responsible for digesting toulene like things. For example, I could say "Super bugs" they have engineered plasmid containing genes for digesting several types of chemicals and it is used for clearing oilspills.

Virulence plasmids:
These are the ones which makes us to hate bacteria. Yes, these make the bacteria virulent i.e., disease causing. You hate it, right?

Still I have one more thing to explain, "Promiscuous plasmid". This was asked in my university exam and adding to the sadder part, I didn't know the answer. But, nothing to worry, I got the answer now.

Promiscuous plasmids: These are plasmids which are self transmissible to a wide variety of organisms. They allow transfer of DNA to other species.

You know any other types of plasmids? Then share with me in the comment section, anything was not clear? comment then.

Take care. Bye :) :)

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. Paresh KaleMay 27, 2013 at 7:27 AM

    Added to my knowledge TY. I hope I will never forget. I hate biology but love photographing nature, flowers and butterflies. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 9, 2013 at 8:52 AM

    Hi..nice post! We love plasmids too and we love posts about plasmids.

    Joanne (Exec Dir of Addgene, "a better way to share plasmids")

    ReplyDelete
  3. sujeethDecember 17, 2016 at 3:08 AM

    can i get more details about degenerative plasmids???plzz

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lowry Assay Principle and procedure

Though there are several protein assays available, the most preferred one in many laboratories is "Lowry assay". It is effective in the concentration range of 0.01 mg/ml to 1 mg/ml. And, as an additional info, the paper published describing the procedure and principle of Lowry Assay is the most cited paper in the scientific history. (Feeling like, "Wow! I want to publish one to compete with Oliver.H. Lowry"???  :P) Why Lowry?   Though there are several other protein assays, mostly Lowry assay is used in many laboratories. The reasons for preferring Lowry are: sensitivity of the assay, highly reproducible, cost effective, easy to perform. Biuret assay is generally used for higher protein concentrations like tissue samples but, Lowry for less concentrated samples and hence used in most of the molecular biology laboratories where there will be need for assaying comparatively less concentrated protein samples (in most cases where we attempt to produce enzymes). Oth...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sea Butterfly!

Neih hou!  Don't roll you eyes wondering what it is! "Neih hou" is how you say "hello" in Cantonese. Guess what, I am in Hong Kong and therefore the language Cantonese. I came to Hong Kong this summer as an intern before officially joining as a PhD Student. This is my second experience abroad, far away from home, new language, new culture, I expected me to have a "really" bad cultural shock, but, actually I experienced only 50% of what I expected. For a girl who have used the marina beach only for eating "sundal", bikini in beach was a shock (FEEL FREE TO JUDGE ME!). The first time, I went to the big wave beach here, I was the only one who was totally covered, when everyone was enjoying their Beer, I was slowly sipping my lemon juice (THE ODD ONE OUT!). I realized how beautifully different the world outside is! There is no single standard for right or wrong, it varies in different countries, in different regions around the world. And it ...
11 comments
Read more

Fire in the lab!!! BE CAREFUL!!!! A Lesson learnt!

   That day, we were working in our lab under laminar air flow chamber. we were streaking our plates with E.coli. For sterilizing the loop, we were using 70% ethanol. We also sterilized the L rod which we used for spreading , using the same Ethanol.  One by one, we started streaking and spreading. I completed my turn, and sterilized the L rod by dipping in ethanol once and shown in flame, and placed it in a tray.Mam instructed, " Ethanol will catch fire , if you place the hot rod over it" . One of my friend, did spreading after my turn, she too dipped the rod in ethanol, flamed the rod and instead of placing in the tray she misplaced the hot rod in the ethanol plate!!!! " oooo... fire fire..." immediately ethanol caught fire..!!! My friend who misplaced., she started crying... Mam shouted, " hey girls, guys run out of the lab...," as the tube which carries LPG for the flame was very close to fire. Suddenly, our lab technician acte...
3 comments
Read more