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cDNA

cDNA or complimentary DNA is a piece of spliced DNA copied from an mRNA for the purposes of discovering gene function. Most often, the DNA of eukaryotic cells is spliced into cDNA for the sake of expressing genes in prokaryotes. Eukaryotic cDNA is the result of mRNA that is spliced to eliminate introns and promoter sequences so that genes can eventually be expressed in prokaryote cells (which do not have introns but are more efficient for running experiments).

When cDNA is transferred into prokaryotes for the sake of propogation, it is referred to as a cDNA clone. Before a gene’s function can be studied intensively it must be propagated in high volumes. For this reason, the development of cDNA libraries for various genomes is highly desirable. cDNA libraries are collections of full-length cDNA clones designed to cover the genes in a genome. According to some estimates, a comprehensive cDNA library for the human genome would consist of over 32,000 full-length cDNA clones.

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