Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes

Overview

Bacterial artificial Chromosomes (BACs) are engineered DNA molecules used to clone and maintain large fragments of foreign DNA, typically on the order of one hundred to three hundred thousand base pairs, within bacterial host cells such as Escherichia coli. Based on the bacterial F-plasmid, BACs are maintained at low copy number, which makes them stable and well suited to carrying large inserts with reduced risk of rearrangement compared with some other vectors. They have been important tools in genomics, notably for constructing the libraries used in large-scale genome sequencing projects, including efforts to sequence the human genome, where overlapping BAC clones provided ordered, manageable segments of chromosomal DNA. Beyond sequencing, BACs are used to study gene structure and regulation, to manipulate and express large genes and gene clusters, and to generate transgenic and disease-model systems. By enabling researchers to work with large pieces of DNA rather than single genes, BACs help reveal how genes and the regions surrounding them function within their broader chromosomal context. Within the scope of Chromosomes, which addresses chromosome structure, organization, and analysis, this page provides an encyclopedic overview of bacterial artificial Chromosomes and gathers peer-reviewed, open-access material relevant to the study of Chromosomes and the molecular tools used to investigate them.

Research published in this journal

1 peer-reviewed article, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.

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