Many questions arise when the topic of cloning is brought up. Some of these may be as follows: What exactly is cloning? Are there different types of cloning? Is it ethical? How can cloning technologies be used? What risks are there in cloning?
When the media talks about cloning in the news, more often than not, they are talking about reproductive cloning. There are many different types of cloning, however, and they do not all involve achieving a genetic twin of a person or other organism. Three different types of cloning include, but are not limited to, recombinant DNA technology or DNA cloning, reproductive cloning, and therapeutic cloning.
Recombinant DNA or DNA cloning is the transfer of a DNA fragment of interest from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element such as a bacterial plasmid. If you have no idea what that means, do not fret, for I will break it down so hopefully you will be able to understand it fully. DNA is the acronym of deoxyribonucleic acid, but that can be a challenge to say sometimes, so most people prefer to use its acronym instead. Recombinant DNA is a form of artificial DNA. To "clone a gene," a DNA fragment containing the gene of interest is isolated from chromosomal DNA using restriction enzymes and then united with a plasmid that has been cut with the same restriction enzymes.
Reproductive cloning is a technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal. “Dolly the Sheep”, the first mammal to be cloned from adult DNA, was created by reproductive cloning technology. In a process called "somatic cell nuclear transfer", scientists transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus, and thus its genetic material, has been removed. The reconstructed egg containing the DNA from a donor cell must be treated with chemicals or electric current in order to stimulate cell division. Once the cloned embryo reaches a suitable stage, it is transferred to the uterus of a female host where it continues to develop until birth.
Therapeutic cloning, also called "embryo cloning," is the production of human embryos for use in research. The goal of this process is not to create cloned human beings, but rather to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human development and to treat disease. This method started out being very controversial because the scientists would take the stem cells from the fetus of the organism that they were working with, which most of the times ended up killing the fetus. However, stem cells are important to biomedical researchers because they can be used to generate virtually any type of specialized cell in the human body. Although there are still many ethical concerns, many researchers hope that one day stem cells can be used to serve as replacement cells to treat heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, and other diseases.
There are many risks involved in cloning. More than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring in reproductive cloning. Many cloned animals have not lived long enough to generate good data about how clones age. Appearing healthy at a young age unfortunately is not a good indicator of long-term survival, and many clones have been known to die mysteriously. Also, defects in the genetic imprint of DNA from a single donor cell may lead to some of the developmental abnormalities of cloned embryos. Many people believe that scientists are “playing God” when they use cloning. If or when scientists begin to more fully experiment on human beings, many people will be outraged for the effects of cloning on the new clone can be anything from genetic abnormalities, birth defects, or even miscarriage at birth. The ethics of cloning will always be up for debate, but people need to know both sides of the argument and then decide for themselves what they believe is ethical or not.
Erika F.
Erika F.
NOT TO BE!!!!!!!!
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