Recombinant is a term used to describe a phenomenon in which DNA strands, or other biomolecules, from different origins are combined. Recombinant DNA is DNA that has been created by the ligation (bonding together) of two or more different strands, that weren't originally bound together. Recombinant DNA may be synthesized in the laboratory to generate recombinant proteins and produce transgenic organisms. Recombinant DNA is generated by insertion of plasmids, transposons or viral vectors into cells, or by microinjection techniques, or can be synthesized chemically by using restriction enzymes to digest chromosomes, and then ligating different pieces back together.
Recombinant DNA might also form naturally (and spontaneously) during DNA replication, or transmission of plasmids or phage between microbial cells.
The terms chimera or chimeric molecule are sometimes used interchangably to describe recombinant molecules, but it may be more correct to use these terms when the two sequences comprising the recombinant molecule come from different species.
The two genes were ligated together to make a short strand of recombinant DNA.
Chimeric mice with human liver cells were used to study toxicity of the chemical.