What is plasmid cloning?

Plasmid cloning is a molecular biology technique used to produce multiple copies of a specific DNA fragment. It involves inserting a gene of interest into a plasmid vector, introducing the recombinant plasmid into a host cell (typically bacteria), and then allowing the host cell to replicate the plasmid, thus amplifying the inserted gene. This is commonly used for gene expression studies, protein production, and creating DNA libraries.