This is a bit of an amateurish question but if I want to expresss mouse zinc finger protein335 using plasmid pcDNA3.1, should I clone the cDNA of the mRNA (~4587bp) or the entire gene (~20kb)
I would go with the cDNA as the cDNA gives an exact copy of the gene's coding sequences, but lacks introns and transcription signals. One advantage of using mRNA to obtain your DNA sequences, is that any given cell type expresses only a subset of its chromosomal genes. So, obtaining your mRNA from a source which expresses your gene of interest, chances of identifying your specific gene increases substantially.