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complementary DNA

American  
[kom-pluh-men-tuh-ree dee-en-ahy] / ˈkɒm pləˌmɛn tə ri ˈdiˈɛnˈaɪ /

noun

  1. cDNA.


complementary DNA British  

noun

  1.  cDNA.  a form of DNA artificially synthesized from a messenger RNA template and used in genetic engineering to produce gene clones

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

complementary DNA Scientific  
  1. Single-stranded DNA synthesized in the laboratory using messenger RNA as a template and the enzyme reverse transcriptase. Complementary DNA is used for many purposes such as mapping chromosomes, creating clones, and sequencing genes.


Etymology

Origin of complementary DNA

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The 'DNA origami' technique uses the specific interactions between complementary DNA base pairs to build dynamic 3D nano-objects.

From Science Daily Oct. 26, 2023

The process of PCR anneals DNA molecules to complementary DNA strands, which maintains the same amount of DNA.

From Textbooks Jun. 9, 2022

The samples would be warmed up again, and enzymes would get to work building off those primers to finish replicating the complementary DNA sequences.

From Scientific American Feb. 16, 2022

Projecting a deep whole-genome shotgun assembly, complementary DNA and deep RNA sequence data onto this framework supports 79,379 transcript clusters, including 26,159 ‘high-confidence’ genes with homology support from other plant genomes.

From Nature Dec. 5, 2012

The overwhelming biological merits of a self- complementary DNA molecule made him effectively concede the race.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

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