Question

Why does the ‘insertional inactivation’ method to detect recombinant DNA is preferred to ‘antibiotic resistance’ procedure?

Answer 1

In insertional inactivation method, the presence of a chromogenic substrate gives blue coloured colonies in absence of an insert. Presence of an insert in the enzyme site do not produce colour. This is because insertional inactivation of the β-galactosidase has taken place due to the insert. Antibiotic resistance method requires duplicate plating. It is a cumbersome procedure to perform.