Biochemical Techniques and Instrumentation (1+2)

6.2.3.2. Cellular cloning

Cloning a cell means to derive a population of cells from a single cell. Tissue culture technique is used to clone distinct lineages of cell lines. In this technique, a single-cell suspension is exposed to a mutagenic agent or drug to drive selection. These cells are plated at high dilution to create isolated colonies. Each colony arises from a single and clonally distinct cell. At the early growth stage when the colonies consist of only a few of cells, sterile polystrene rings or cloning rings dipped in grease are placed over an individual colony and a small amount of trypsin is added. The cloned cells are then collected from inside the ring and transferred to a new vessel for further growth.