GENE Knock Out

hii sir, I am doing BSc in Biology I wants to know about the GENE Knock out will you please tell me about the GENE Knock out ?

[Shaleen]

GENE Knock Out

A gene knockout (abbreviation: KO) is a genetic technique in which one of an organism's genes is made inoperative ("knocked out" of the organism). Also known as knockout organisms or simply knockouts, they are used in learning about a gene that has been sequenced, but which has an unknown or incompletely known function. Researchers draw inferences from the difference between the knockout organism and normal individuals.

Method :

Knockout is accomplished through a combination of techniques, beginning in the test tube with a plasmid, a bacterial artificial chromosome or other DNA construct, and proceeding to cell culture. Individual cells are genetically transfected with the DNA construct

Often the goal is to create a transgenic animal that has the altered gene. If so, embryonic stem cells are genetically transformed and inserted into early embryos. Resulting animals with the genetic change in their germline cells can then often pass the gene knockout to future generations.


The construct is engineered to recombine with the target gene, which is accomplished by incorporating sequences from the gene itself into the construct. Recombination then occurs in the region of that sequence within the gene, resulting in the insertion of a foreign sequence to disrupt the gene. With its sequence interrupted, the altered gene in most cases will be translated into a nonfunctional protein, if it is translated at all.


Use of GENE Knockout :

Knockouts are primarily used to understand the role of a specific gene or DNA region by comparing the knockout organism to a wildtype with a similar genetic background.