plasmid

plasmid, in microbiology, an extrachromosomal genetic element that occurs in many bacterial strains. Plasmids are circular deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules that replicate independently of the bacterial chromosome. They are not essential for the bacterium but may confer a selective advantage. One class of plasmids, colicinogenic (or Col ) factors, determines the production of proteins called colicins, which have antibiotic activity and can kill other bacteria. Another class of plasmids, R factors, confers upon bacteria resistance to antibiotics. Some Col factors and R factors can transfer themselves from one cell to another and thus are capable of spreading rapidly through a bacterial population. A plasmid that is attached to the cell membrane or integrated into the bacterial chromosome is called an episome (q.v.).

Plasmids are extremely valuable tools in the fields of molecular biology and genetics, specifically in the area of genetic engineering (q.v.). They play a critical role in such procedures as gene cloning, recombinant protein production (e.g., of human insulin), and gene therapy research. In such procedures, a plasmid is cut at a specific site (or sites) using enzymes called restriction endonucleases. A foreign DNA element (such as the gene for insulin) is then spliced into the plasmid. The resulting circular structure, a recombinant DNA molecule, is then introduced into bacterial cells (a process called transformation). The autonomous replication of the plasmid within the bacterial cells makes it possible to produce large numbers of copies of the recombinant DNA molecule for experimental manipulation or commercial purposes (such as the production of large amounts of insulin). Plasmids are well suited to genetic engineering in other ways. Their antibiotic resistance genes, for example, prove useful in identifying those bacterial cells that have taken up the recombinant DNA molecule in a high background of untransformed cells (transformation frequencies are only about 1 out of every 100,000 cells).