1. Plural of cosmid; hybrid DNA molecules combining features of plasmids and bacteriophage lambda, used in molecular cloning to carry large DNA segments.
Usage: technical; molecular biology

Examples

• Cosmids are useful vectors for cloning DNA fragments larger than those that plasmids can accommodate.
• The researchers used cosmids to construct a genomic library of the organism.
• Cosmids can carry inserts of up to 45 kilobases, making them valuable for genome mapping projects.
• The cosmids were packaged into phage particles for efficient introduction into bacterial cells.
• Scientists selected cosmids as their cloning vector because of the large insert capacity needed for the project.