The Process of Making Identical Copies of Living Matter - Essay Example

of the of the of the Cloning The technique of cloning, was introduced many millennia ago and it was employed on plants. The early farmers used this technique to enable plants to grow faster and to produce better quality seeds and fruits. These early farmers used very simple breeding methods like cutting a part of a plant and replanting it, in order to obtain another plant. Even though these methods of cloning and breeding produced numerous plants with the desired qualities, the process was slow and at times suspect. The twentieth century scientists developed genetic engineering, wherein deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA was suitably modified. In combination with cloning such genetic material was able to bring about the desired change in a plant’s genes. This technique was accurate, fast and inexpensive (Wilmut). The process of making identical copies of living matter like cells or organisms is termed as cloning. These copies are called clones and they are genetically identical. Several organisms employ the technique of cloning, in order to reproduce (Wilmut). As such this process entails the obtention of identical copies from the parent. This process is asexual and results from the mitosis of a single fertilized egg (clone ). Cloning techniques are utilized by scientists to create exact copies of cells or organisms that possess valuable characteristics. Researchers in the area of cloning are always on the lookout for its application to medicine, biological research and industry (Wilmut). Scientists have applied this cloning technique to even animals, and have successfully produced animals that have considerable immunity to disease. The day is not far off, when scientists will use cloning to increase the number of members in endangered species, and also regenerate species that have become extinct (Wilmut). In respect of the cloning of animals, scientists had cloned frogs by the 1950’s. This process enabled scientists to create animals that had the genetic properties of just one parent. In the course of this technique, the genetic material of the egg cell had been supplanted by DNA of the adult frog’s body cell’s nucleus. Subsequently, these modified cells went through all the stages of a normal fertilized egg and culminated in an embryo (clone ). The cloning technology has considerable application in industry. Bacteria, that eat toxic substances like gasoline or industrial chemicals that cause pollution, are obtained in significant quantities by the cloning process. These cloned bacteria are as efficient as the parent bacteria in mitigating environmental pollution. Even cloned animals are employed, in order to produce different ingredients, like proteins, which are used commercially. The most important use of cloning is in medicine. For instance, scientists utilized cloning techniques to produce a protein that has proved to be indispensable for people suffering with the blood-clotting disorder, known as hemophilia. These scientists had inserted part of DNA that contains the human gene into the cells of a sheep to produce a blood-clotting protein. The milk of these newly cloned sheep contains the protein, which is effective in treating people with hemophilia. Scientists are also sanguine about employing cloning to develop animals with human diseases, so that they can be used in clinical trials, to test the safety and effectiveness of new treatments, designed for humans. In the future, cloning is expected to be of great use in the biomedical field and in organ transplants (Wilmut). Even though the practical applications of cloning are economically very attractive, they are extremely disturbing from the philosophical point of view. Cloning would permit animal breeders to produce very good quality animals. Animals that have been produced due to genetic engineering could be cloned in large numbers. Such animals could prove to be of great use increasing the production of drugs or human proteins, which are used to fight disease. As these clones are genetically identical, they play an important role in biological research (clone ). The first incident of cloning was in Nature. Asexual reproduction is resorted to by many organisms, in order to duplicate themselves. In this process, a genetically identical offspring is formed when the parent’s DNA copies itself and an offspring develops around it. This cloning is seen in many plants, like strawberries and some varieties of grapes. These plants produce runners or stems, which grow on top of the ground. Subsequently, these develop into a new plant that is genetically identical to its parent. Some other plants like ferns, irises and some grasses produce underground stems called rhizomes, which produce new plants genetically identical to the parent plant. On occasion, even mammals produce clones through sexual reproduction, unlike the asexual method of other organisms. In this process the mother’s egg is fertilized by the father’s sperm and divides in the womb to form two or more embryos. The resulting offspring are genetically identical clones. As these offspring contain only half of their parents’ genes, they are not considered to be clones of their parents (Wilmut). Scientists, in the 1950’s experimented with undifferentiated embryo cells; and discovered the fact that these cells could be used to produce different types of cells in the body. This characteristic is known as totipotency. Scientists utilized this characteristic and developed three methods to clone embryo cells; namely, blastomeric separation, blast cyst division and somatic cell nuclear transfer. In blastomeric separation, a cell is formed by the division of a fertilized egg. The embryo so obtained is allowed to undergo further subdivision until a mass of four cells results. These blastomers on being implanted in a surrogate uterus result in an embryo that is genetically akin to the original embryo (Wilmut). A fertilized egg is allowed to undergo blastocyst division until it makes a mass of about 32 to 150 cells, known as a blastocyst. Subsequently, this blastocyst is split into two parts and these are then implanted into a surrogate mother’s uterus. These two halves develop into identical twins. In somatic cell nuclear transfer, an animal carrying the genetic material of only one parent is produced. In this method, a genetic material from the somatic cell of a donor is transferred to an egg cell; whose nucleus has been removed. The cell that is formed through such cloning will have the genetic material of only the donor’s somatic cell (Wilmut). The above process uses the genetic material in the donor cell’s nucleus. However, all the genes of an animal are not located in the nucleus. Several genes exist in the mitochondria, hence; clones that result from somatic cell nuclear transfer may possess mitochondrial genes from the enucleated egg that was used during cloning, along with the genes from the donor’s genetic material. Every living creature is influenced by interaction with genes and the environment. Hence, some characteristics of the clones might differ from that of the donor (Wilmut). Scientists obtained new neurons from the skin cells of mice, and employed them to treat a Parkinson’s disease like condition in mice. This method could be extended to humans with Parkinson’s disease. Scientists have made some progress in this process. First, early embryos were obtained cloning skin cells; afterwards, stem cells were extracted from these embryos, later on these embryonic stem cells were converted into the required nerve cells and finally these nerve cells were implanted into the brain of the rodent. It had been the earlier practice to obtain these nerve cells from a single mouse. In order to prevent the rejection of these implants, the recipient mouse’s immune system had to be (Barry). In 2005, a South Korean scientist perpetrated fraud on the scientific community. He had announced in a journal reviewed by experts that he had so cloned cats that they glowed with a red color, when subjected to certain lights. This fraud, on being discovered, revealed South Korean cloning research in very poor light (Rudolph, the Red-Toned Cat Clone ). Andrew French and his team were the first to clone human embryos at Stemagen. They obtained DNA from one of French’s skin cells, and combined it with a human egg, whose DNA had been removed, and an embryo was created as a result. A Blastocyst or early human embryo resulted from this embryo. It was hoped to extract hESC’s that matched Andrew French from this blastocyst. This so called Stemagen process produced twenty – one embryos. Of these only five changed into blastocyst (Coghlan). The use of stem cells in the medical field is still in the experimental stage. In 2001, stem cells were injected into the brain of persons suffering with Parkinson’s disease. The results were not very encouraging. Patients, whose age was greater than sixty years, did not derive any advantage from such treatment. In patients, whose age was less than sixty years, some benefits were noticed. However, some of the younger patients developed severe side effects. Cloned stem cells have been suspected of carrying disease. For instance, scientists mix human cells with mouse cells in cultures, while cloning stem cells; and the fear exists that if the mouse cells are infected, then such infection could easily get transferred to the human stem cells (Wilmut). Works Cited Barry, Patrick. "Mouse, Heal Thyself ." Science News (March 29, 2008): Vol. 173 Issue 13, p198. "clone ." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008. Coghlan, Andy. "Cloned human embryo may have generated stem cells ." New Scientist (January 26, 2008): Vol. 197 Issue 2640, p9. "Rudolph, the Red-Toned Cat Clone ." Time December 31, 2007: Vol. 170 Issue 27, p30. Wilmut, Ian. "Cloning." Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2007. Read More