A multiple cloning site (MCS), also called a polylinker, is a short segment of DNA which contains many (usually 20+) restriction sites - a standard feature of engineered plasmids. Restriction sites within an MCS are typically unique. In other words, they only occur once within that particular plasmid. MCSs are commonly used during procedures involving molecular cloning or subcloning. Extremely useful in biotechnology, bioengineering, and molecular genetics, MCSs let a biotechnologist insert a piece of DNA or several pieces of DNA into the region of the MCS. This can be used to create transgenic organisms, also known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions for the development and function of living things. ... Restriction sites, or restriction recognition sites, are particular sequences of nucleotides that are recognized by restriction enzymes as sites to cut the DNA molecule. ... Figure 1 : Schematic drawing of a bacterium with plasmids enclosed. ... The structure of insulin Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. ... Biological engineering (also biosystems engineering and bioengineering) is a broad-based engineering discipline that deals with bio-molecular and molecular processes, product design, sustainability and analysis of biological systems. ... A genetically modified organism is an organism whose genetic material has been deliberately altered. ...
Frequency of cutting: Because of their restriction site specificity, the restriction endonucleases cut DNA into fragments whose average length is determined by the number of base pairs in the restriction site (and to a lesser extent by the ratio of bases in the DNA).
Another trick that is sometimes used is to eliminate a naturally-occurring cut sites (or generate a new cut site) by changing the third bases of codons in ways that eliminate (or generate) restriction endonuclease cut sites without altering the amino acid coding of genes carried in the vector.
Multiplecloningsites: Most sophisticated modern vectors contain multiplecloningsites, which consist of a short stretches of artificially synthesized DNA containing cut sites for a number of different restriction endonucleases located side by side (figure 9.7).