The scientific term cloning is well known: Dolly, the first cloned sheep, became famous in 1997 when she was published in the scientific journal Nature.
This sparked interest in cloning technology among many scientists, researchers and the general public. But what is cloning and how does it work?
Cloning technology is a scientific technique used to produce exact copies of genes from different organisms.
These can be DNA copies, cells, tissues or whole animals.
Animal cloning is a method of asexual reproduction. It can be defined as a method of animal reproduction in which the nucleus of an egg cell is replaced by a donor cell (somatic cell).
After the replacement, the reconstructed embryo is implanted into a surrogate mother and the fetus develops.
Advanced biotechnology has enabled breeders to increase the reproductive potential of livestock. This enables the reproduction of optimal cow traits such as high milk yield and improved health.
Cloned cows produce healthy cows that provide safe and healthy dairy products. Cloning technology is also helping to protect endangered species.
What are the types of cloning
There are two different types of cloning
What is the difference between natural cloning and artificial cloning
Although both artificial and natural cloning lead to the same result — the creation of a clone, that is, an organism whose genome is identical or nearly identical to that of another organism.
the two cloning scenarios are very different. The main difference between the two is that natural cloning does not require human intervention, while artificial cloning is a genetic engineering technique.
- Natural Cloning
Natural cloning is the production of clones without human intervention. Scientists have applied natural cloning mechanisms to various artificial cloning techniques.
2. Artificial cloning
There are three types of artificial cloning. In genetic cloning, a copy of a gene or piece of DNA is made. In reproductive cloning, a copy of the whole animal is produced. In therapeutic cloning, embryonic stem cells are produced, which are used in experiments to create tissues to replace damaged or diseased tissues.
- Genetic cloning
- Reproductive cloning
- Therapeutic cloning
- Gene cloning:
Gene cloning, also known as DNA cloning, can be a very different process from reproductive engineering or biomedical cloning. Reproductive engineering cloning and biomedical cloning have many things in common, but their purposes are different. Genetic cloning is a scientific term that refers to making a copy of a gene or DNA.
Cloning involves obtaining mature, sterile cells, such as somatic cells, from animals that researchers want to reproduce. DNA is then transferred from the donor animal’s sterilized cells into egg cells called oocytes, and the nucleus containing the DNA is removed.
Scientists have two methods for adding DNA from asexual reproductive cells to empty oocytes. The first method uses a needle to extract the DNA-containing nucleus from the asexual cell and inject it into the empty egg.
The second method uses an electric current to inoculate the entire gametophyte into the empty egg. In both cases, the oocytes develop early in the tube into embryos that can implant in the woman’s womb.
Eventually, the female gives birth to an animal with a genetic makeup similar to the animal that produced the asexual cells.
This young animal is known as a clone. Embryonic cloning may require a mother to develop the cloned embryo, as in the case of Dolly the sheep, the most famous cloned animal.
Therapeutic cloning is the creation of cloned embryos for the sole purpose of producing embryonic stem cells with the same DNA as donor cells.
These stem cells are often used in experiments to understand diseases and develop new treatments. To date, there is no evidence that human embryos have been produced for biomedical cloning.
The richest source of embryonic stem cells is tissue formed in the first five days after egg cell division.
The embryo at this stage, called a blastocyst, consists of a population of about 100 cells in which all types of cells can develop.
At this stage, stem cells are removed from the cloned embryo and the embryo is destroyed in a test tube.
Conclusion:
Clone genetics can create exact genetic copies which help to produce healthier breeds of livestock beads. It also helps scientists to develop medicines for humans. Cloned animals such as monkeys are used to develop medicines.
Cloning is carried out in a variety of ways, including genetic cloning, reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning.
