Cloning

What is Cloning?

1. Who is Dolly? Dolly was the first organism cloned. She was a sheep who was cloned in 1997.

2. When a zygote divides into to separate cells, it is called: This process is called twinning.

3. Somatic cells are also called ________. Somatic cells are non-reproductive cells, in comparison to germ cells.

4. In order to clone a gene, a gene is inserted into a _______. The gene is inserted in a plasmid.

5. In order to create an embryo from a somatic cell, the donor egg cell must have its nucleus removed.



Click and Clone

6. List all the materials needed to clone a mouse.

A mouse to clone
An egg cell donor
A surrogate mother
A microscope
Petri dishes
A sharp pipette
A blunt pipette
A chemical to stimulate cell division


7. Place the following steps in the correct order.

Isolate donor cells from egg donor and germ cell donor
Remove and discard the nucleus from the egg cell
Transfer the somatic cell nucleus into the egg cell
Stimulate cell division
Implant embryo into a surrogate mother
Deliver baby


8. There are two time gaps in the process of cloning. What are they? (ie. what do you have to wait for?)

You have to wait for a) the egg cell to associate with the somatic cell's nucleus after the somatic nucleus transfer. b)
The egg cell needs to divide 16 times in a petri dish, after cell division is stimulated.

9. What color with the cloned mouse be? Mini-Mimi will be brown, because her mother, Mimi, was brown. What is the name of this mouse? Her name is Mini-Mimi, due to her resemblance to her mother.

Why Clone?

10. Why is cloning extinct animals problematic?

First of all, you need a well-preserved DNA sample, which is quite rare in ancient animals because of thousands or even millions of years of weathering and natural processes. Also, you need a closely related animal that would serve as a surrogate mother. Finally, you need a male AND female sample to regenerate a whole population.

11. What are some reasons a person might want to clone a human?

You might clone a human to give children to someone who is infertile, by providing half of one parent's chromosomes and half of the other's. Also, you could replace a stillborn or miscarriaged baby, or an infant who died early, allowing the parent's to retain their child's genetic uniqueness.

The Clone Zone

12. What animal was cloned in 1885? A sea urchin was cloned.

13. How did Spemann separate the two cells of the embryo of a salamander in 1902? Spemann separated two cells of the embryo of a salamander with baby hair fashioned as a noose.

14. The process of removing a nucleus is called _____. This process is known as enucleation.

15. In 1952, the nucleus of a frog embryo cell was placed into a donor cell. Did it work to clone the animal? Yes, but more of the cloned frogs grew abnormally, compared to normally born frogs.

16. Can the nucleus of an adult cell be injected into an egg cell and produce a clone? Yes, for it was first accomplished in 1968.

17. Why are mammals hard to clone? Because their eggs are much smaller, making nucleic manipulation much tougher.

18. What were the names of the first two cloned cows? Their names where Fusion and Copy, who were born in 1986.

19. In what year was the National Bioethics Advisory Council formed? It was formed in 1995 by Bill Clinton and his administration.

20. The first mammal clone to be produced from an adult (somatic) cell? The first SCNT-born mammal was Dolly, a sheep. She was cloned in 1996 by Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell.

21. What do scientists do to adult cells to make them "behave" like embryos? They implant them in an egg cell, masquerading the somatic cells as germ cells.

22. Transgenic, cloned sheep were used to produce what medical protein? They were used to create Factor IX, which treats hemophilia.

23. What is a stem cell? Stem cells are the basic cells of the body, which can change and transform into any cell of a body.

Cloning Myths

24. Briefly describe in your own words, why CC the cat was not identical in color to Rainbow, even though she was a clone?

This difference is due to X-inactivation. When a female has two X chromosomes, it usually goes through a process known as x-inactivation. CC had a different X chromosome inactivated, leading to a different fur coat, because its gene is on the X chromosome.

25. What is "nature vs nurture"?

Nature vs nurture is the debate of whether behavior and phenotypic expression is due to its genome or its epigenome, respectively. While cloned animals will have the same nature, the epigenetic tags acquired throughout life will be different, for whatever reasons. In my opinion, nature forms the backbone of who we are and our basic type of behaviors, while the experiences, subtleties and feelings we gain throughout life are all due the type of environment we were raised in.




Is it Cloning or Not?

26. For each of the following scenarios, indicate YES (it is cloning) or NO (it is not cloning)

No_Sperm taken from a mole goat is combined with a female's egg in a petri dish. The resulting embryo is implanted into the female's uterus to develop
Yes_A sheep embryo, composed of 16 cells, is removed from the mother's uterus and separated into indivudal cells. Each cell is allowed to multiply, creating 16 separate embryos, which are then implanted in different female sheep to develop to maturity.
Yes_A cow with many desirable traits is stimulated with hormones to produce a number of egg cells. Each of these eggs is fertilized and implanted into a surrogate mother.
No_ In vitro fertilization
Yes_ Cell nuclei from an extinct wolly mammoth are placed into enucleated cow cells.



27. Define or describe each of the following processes (you may need to reset the Cloning or Not Screen)

Invitro fertilization- In vitro fertilization is the process of fertilizing an egg with sperm outside of the body, resulting in a zygote which is placed back in the mother's uterus. This is particularly used when patients are infertile, or would like multiple children. The first living child who was conceived in IVF was Louise Brown, in 1977.

Embryo splitting Embryo splitting is a rudimentary cloning technique, first used by Hans Adolf in 1885, in which it was used to clone sea urchins. He split an embryo just by shaking the egg itself. However, embryo splitting techniques are now much more advanced and precise.

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Somatic cell nuclear transfer is a cloning technique that was most famously used to clone Dolly the sheep. First, a somatic cell is taken from the organism that is going to be cloned and goes through enucleation, the removal of the nucleus. A donated egg cell is also enucleated. This "empty" egg cell will then have the somatic cell's nucleus inserted through a sharp pipette. Then, a chemical will stimulate cell division in the egg cell, leading to a 16-cell embryo. This embryo is then put in a surrogate mother's uterus, leading to the embryo's birth.

Multiple Ovulation Embryo Transfer Multiple Ovulation Embryo Transfer (MOET) is a technique to speed up the long process of pregnancy. During a female animal's ovulation period, hormones are injected to create more eggs. She is then inseminated, and the more eggs, the higher chance she has to have an embryo. Before the embryo attaches to the uterine wall, scientists remove it and place it in another female's uterine when they are the most prepared for gestation. This leads to a speeded up birth.

Artificial Insemination Artificial insemination (AI) is the process of sperm being injected into a female's cervix or uterine not through sexual intercourse. This occurs usually in humans, when a single mother, lesbian, or an unable partner is not able to produce sperm for the female. The sperm can be donated by a male spouse who lacks a physical or psychological ability to reproduce naturally, and must have it done through AI. Also, a sperm donor can be used.

What Are the Risks of Cloning?

28. What is one reason why cloning animals has such a high failure rate?

Sometimes, the egg cell with its nucleus removed will not respond well to the implanted somatic cell nucleus, rendering the nucleus useless.

29. What is a telomere and how does it affect cloned animals?

Theoretically, it seems that the telomeres at the end of chromosomes would severely hurt cloned animals, leading to much quicker aging. This hypothesis is based off of the fact the clones would have identical DNA to somatic cells of the cloned animal, because they used the exact same nucleus. However, in the majority of cases, cloned animals have LONGER telomeres than their naturally born counterparts.




What Are Some Issues in Cloning?

30. Pick one of the questions to ponder and ....ponder it. Write a brief essay on your thoughts and opinions.

Should cloning research be regulated?

Have you ever felt frightened or scared by the prospect of cloning, like in science fiction films and novels? Well, though they are quite unrealistic, cloning certainly needs to be regulated. Cloning regulation should be done by the FDA, though not falling under the food and drug umbrella, because they have the most familiarity of governmental regulatory organizations with controversial genetic issues.


The regulations imposed on animal cloning should be strict, because of the large risks, but should nevercompletely ban it. Medical research should permit on cloning, however, it would need to be cleared by a new 9-person panel (the Supreme Court of cloning ethics) to keep all tests regulated. Human cloning is a much larger issue. For now, the U.S.A. should wait for other countries to deal with the technologies behind it that would render it relatively safe, unless its only purpose was for embryonic stem cell research. Embryonic stem cell research could lead to giant leaps in treating cancer and birth defects. For this to be approved, it would also need to go through the FDA panel. Overall, regulation is needed in cloning and its research, but it must not close any doors of any possible medical advancement.