In higher eukaryotes, gene expression is tissue-specific. Only certain cell types show moderate to high expression of a single gene or a group of genes. For example, the genes encoding globin proteins are expressed only in erythrocyte precursor cells, called reticulocytes. Using this information a target gene can be cloned by isolating the mRNA from a specific tissue. The specific DNA sequences are synthesized as copies from mRNAs of a particular cell type, and cloned into bacteriophage vectors. cDNA (complementary DNA) is produced from a fully transcribed mRNA which contains only the expressed genes of an organism. Clones of such DNA copies of mRNAs are called cDNA clones
A cDNA library is a combination of cloned cDNA fragments constituting some portion of the transcriptome of an organism which are inserted into a number of host cells. In eukaryotic cells, the mRNA is spliced before translation into protein. The DNA synthesized from the spliced mRNA doesn't have introns or non-coding regions of the gene. As a result, the protein under expression can be sequenced from the DNA which is the main advantage of cDNA cloning over genomic DNA cloning.
cDNA libraries. Let's consider the important aspects of constructing a cDNA library. A cDNA library simply contains sequences that are complementary to mRNAs. There are a number of different criteria that might be used to judge the quality of a cDNA library. A cDNA library is generally better if the size of the inserts (that is the amount of continuous cDNA in each clone) is large, ideally full-length. Ideally, no member of the library should include cDNAs derived from different mRNAs (this could be confusing). The library should be sufficiently large that it contains the cDNA of interest (or,more precisely, it should have enough independently derived clones that it contains the cDNA of interest). In general this means that it should be representative of all the mRNAs present in a particular tissue. Of course, choosing a tissue that has a relatively large amount of the mRNA of interest is an important experimental choice. In general it is easier to isolate a cDNA from a library where it is represented many times than from a library where it is present rarely. Some characteristics of a library depend on the vector chosen. Vectors are frequently chosen because they allow the screening of a large number of independent members of the library with experimental ease. Some vectors are designed to express only the cDNAs, while others have been modified to express not only the cDNA but also to express it in a context so the cDNA is made into a protein or a fusion protein. (Fusion proteins will be discussed below.) Before using a cDNA library it is wise to determine if it is a good quality library. More than one student has wasted months of time screening a library that had no inserts or inserts so short that they were of little value.