mini-chromosome

mini-chromosome

(1) An artificial chromosome created by linking restriction endonuclease digested fragments of DNA.
(2) An extremely small chromosome composed of centromeres and telomeres, in contrast to a conventional chromosome, which also has a large amount of introns (intervening DNA).
New genes can be stacked onto mini-chromosomes, making it much easier to move the genes to target sites, in contrast to traditional genetic modification in which genes are incorporated into a vector and difficult to manipulate.