By using a bacterial recipient and a plasmid carrier, DNA from virtually any other source can be inserted into a host cell. If a fragment of DNA from a eukaryotic cell is isolated and recombined into a plasmid, it can inserted into bacterial host cells, where it will be replicated (replication). The copies of the eukaryotic DNA fragment can be distinguished in a bacterial host far more readily than in their original eukaryotic cells. This procedure of replicating a DNA segment in bacterial cells is known is known as cloning that DNA segment.