Question

What do '$Y$' and '$B$' stand for in '$YAC$' and '$BAC$' used in Human Genome Project (HGP)? Mention their role in the project.

Answer 1

YAC stands for Yeast Artificial Chromosome and BAC stands for Bacterial artificial chromosome.

YAC are derived from DNA of yeast S. cerevisiae by the process of genetic engineering. They are then ligated into the bacterial plasmid. By inserting large fragments of DNA, the inserted sequences can be cloned and mapped by chromosome walking and this method was used in the Human Genome Project.

BAC is a DNA construct used for transforming and cloning in bacteria like E. coli. They are used to sequence the genome of an organism in genome projects.