Recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology deals with the isolation and manipulation of DNA. DNA molecules from all organisms share the same chemical structure; they differ only in the sequence of nucleotides, consequently, a DNA from a foreign source can be linked to host DNA sequences, i.e., the DNAs of two different species can be linked to form the ‘recombinant DNA’ or ‘rDNA’ or ‘chimeric DNA’. For example, a plant DNA may be joined to a bacterial DNA or a human DNA may be joined with a fungal DNA. DNA sequence may be even chemically created and introduced into any of a very wide range of living organisms. Upon translation, the rDNA results in the production of ‘recombinant protein’ or ‘fusion protein’, with the help of various rDNA technology tools.
‘Molecular cloning’ is the laboratory process used to create rDNA. Using rDNA technology, desired proteins can be made to be expressed in the organisms that have short generation time such as bacteria, and thus can be amplified within short duration. The expressed proteins can be isolated and used for various purposes.
An organism containing an artificially inserted foreign piece of DNA is said to be ‘transgenic’.