Identification and characterization of specific clones: strategy for confirming the validity of presumptive clones

It should now be apparent that establishing the identity of a particular recombinant is not a simple procedure. In the absence of unambiguous and internally consistent DNA and protein sequence information, analyses become dependent on a series of characteristics which, together, may be unique to a specific gene and/or gene product. The process of identification is, thus, often more a corroboration of predicted characteristics than absolute proof. It is critical that the process of identification is not simply reduced to the circular arguments generated by reconfirming characteristics used during the initial selection scheme.