Cloning is a process involving the replication of identical genes, cells, or organisms that originate from a single ancestor. The process can occur naturally or can be grown artificially in a laboratory. The cloning of genes and cells to create many copies is an increasingly common procedure that is vital for research in the biotechnological and biomedical fields.
There are a couple of ways to artificially clone an organism: artificial embryo twinning and somatic cell nuclear transfer.
There are a couple of ways to artificially clone an organism: artificial embryo twinning and somatic cell nuclear transfer.
1. Artificial Embryo
Twinning
Artificial embryo twinning is relatively easier than other forms of cloning. As the name suggests, this technology imitates the natural method of creating identical twins.
In nature, twins are produced just after fertilisation of an egg cell by a sperm cell. In rare cases, the resulting fertilized egg, called a zygote, divides into a two-celled embryo, which are identical in nature. Each cell continues dividing on its own, and grow into separate organisms in the mother.
Artificial embryo twinning uses the same idea, but it occurs in a Petri dish instead of in the mother's body. This is accomplished by manually splitting a very early embryo into separate cells, and then allowing each cell to divide and develop on its own. The resulting embryos are placed into a surrogate mother, where they are carried to term and delivered. As with natural twins, these organisms are genetically identical.
Artificial embryo twinning is relatively easier than other forms of cloning. As the name suggests, this technology imitates the natural method of creating identical twins.
In nature, twins are produced just after fertilisation of an egg cell by a sperm cell. In rare cases, the resulting fertilized egg, called a zygote, divides into a two-celled embryo, which are identical in nature. Each cell continues dividing on its own, and grow into separate organisms in the mother.
Artificial embryo twinning uses the same idea, but it occurs in a Petri dish instead of in the mother's body. This is accomplished by manually splitting a very early embryo into separate cells, and then allowing each cell to divide and develop on its own. The resulting embryos are placed into a surrogate mother, where they are carried to term and delivered. As with natural twins, these organisms are genetically identical.
2. Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
Somatic cell nuclear transfer, (SCNT) uses a different approach than artificial embryo twinning, but it produces the same result: an exact clone, or genetic copy, of an individual. This was the method used to create Dolly the Sheep.
What does SCNT mean?
Somatic cell: A somatic cell is any cell in the body other with the exception of the reproductive cells, sperm and egg.
Nuclear: The nucleus is like the cell's brain. It's an enclosed chamber that contains all the information that cells need to form an organism. This information comes in the form of DNA.
Transfer: Moving an object from one place to another.
To make Dolly, researchers removed a somatic cell from an adult female sheep. Next, they moved the nucleus from the somatic cell to an egg cell from which the nucleus had been replaced. After a couple of chemical changes, the egg cell, with its new nucleus, was behaving just like a fertilized zygote. It developed into an embryo, which was implanted into a surrogate mother and was born.
The lamb, Dolly, was an exact genetic replica of the adult female sheep that gave the somatic cell nucleus to the egg. She was the first-ever mammal to be cloned.
Cloning, or more precisely, the reconstruction of functional DNA from extinct species has been a dream of scientists and enthusiasts alike. The possible consequences of this were dramatized in the best-selling novel by Michael Crichton and high budget Hollywood thriller Jurassic Park. In real life, one of the most anticipated animals for cloning was once the Woolly Mammoth, but attempts to extract DNA from frozen mammoths have been unsuccessful, though a joint Russo-Japanese team is currently working toward this goal.
Somatic cell nuclear transfer, (SCNT) uses a different approach than artificial embryo twinning, but it produces the same result: an exact clone, or genetic copy, of an individual. This was the method used to create Dolly the Sheep.
What does SCNT mean?
Somatic cell: A somatic cell is any cell in the body other with the exception of the reproductive cells, sperm and egg.
Nuclear: The nucleus is like the cell's brain. It's an enclosed chamber that contains all the information that cells need to form an organism. This information comes in the form of DNA.
Transfer: Moving an object from one place to another.
To make Dolly, researchers removed a somatic cell from an adult female sheep. Next, they moved the nucleus from the somatic cell to an egg cell from which the nucleus had been replaced. After a couple of chemical changes, the egg cell, with its new nucleus, was behaving just like a fertilized zygote. It developed into an embryo, which was implanted into a surrogate mother and was born.
The lamb, Dolly, was an exact genetic replica of the adult female sheep that gave the somatic cell nucleus to the egg. She was the first-ever mammal to be cloned.
Cloning, or more precisely, the reconstruction of functional DNA from extinct species has been a dream of scientists and enthusiasts alike. The possible consequences of this were dramatized in the best-selling novel by Michael Crichton and high budget Hollywood thriller Jurassic Park. In real life, one of the most anticipated animals for cloning was once the Woolly Mammoth, but attempts to extract DNA from frozen mammoths have been unsuccessful, though a joint Russo-Japanese team is currently working toward this goal.