Strain or line: refers to a pool or colonyplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigClone: Depending on the context, this word can have a few different meanings:

* In the context of genes, cloning means that the physical identity of a gene has been found, and the gene has been sequenced. * In the context of DNA, a cloned DNA fragment is one that has been inserted into some kind of of individuals or cultured cells of a desired genotypeplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigGenotype: the combination of alleles within an organism or strain. When used as a verb, it means to determine the genotype experimentally. or phenotypeplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigPhenotype: an observable feature or property of an organism. that is mostly homogeneous and can be bred and/or produced in perpetuity for research or commercial purposes. “Strain” tends to be used more for microorganisms and “line” tends to be used for more complex multicellular organisms (or cultured cells derived from multicellular organisms), but the two words can be used more or less interchangeably.