Essay, Research Paper: Animal Cloning At A Glance

ANIMAL CLONING AT A GLANCE
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF GENETIC TECHNOLOGY Genetic Engineering is the process of directly altering an organism s DNA. Scientists have been directly working with DNA since the 1950 s. Or so I m led to believe. However the most important discoveries in the field of genetic engineering have been made in the past 24 years. Genetic engineering is now used to alter the DNA of plants, animals and bacteria. Some ways biologists are able to manipulate DNA are: through using restriction enzymes to stop DNA sequencing, using DNA combination to combine different types of DNA, using DNA insertion to later be able to manipulate growth of recombinant DNA, and using DNA sequencing to find out the order of enzymes in the DNA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMAL CLONING AND HOW IT IS USED The general process of animal cloning involves taking an unfertilized egg, or oocyte, and swapping the nucleus of the oocyte with a different quiescent nucleus from another animal. The process of swapping Nuclei is called Nuclear Transfer. Once the new nucleus is in place, it is fused to the cytoplasm. Then the oocyte is ready to be fertilized. Once the egg is fertilized it is placed in an environment where the cells can divide and grow. And if successful, the animal that grows from the egg will be a clone of the animal the quiescencial nucleus came from. Amazing, huh? For years the process of cloning animals was all about Can we do it? Now that scientists are able to clone animals the new question is How can we use it? Cloning can be used a number of ways to benefit the human race, but since the technology is relatively new and somewhat questionable none of the ideas of how cloning can be used have been put into effect. Some ways cloning may be used in the next hundred years are: having yourself cloned for tissue and organ transplants, making disease resistant people (in about 100 years), ending genetic mutations and many others which I don t feel like naming. To conclude, it is hard to answer the question, How is animal cloning used? This is because it is not really used , yet. Right now the purpose of cloning is to see it we can get it right. Besides we are a long way from cloning humans, mostly because of ethical and religious reasons.
BRIEF HISTORY HISTORY OF ANIMAL CLONING Cloning was first reported in the early 1950 s. Throughout the 50 s and 60 s scientists were busy using Nuclear Transfer to clone amphibians. Most of these experiments went nowhere because the cloned amphibians were cloned with nuclei from cells that were actively dividing. This resulted in things like cloned frogs that never made it passed the tadpole stage. In the 1970 s animal cloning was first attempted. Mice, sheep and cattle were the prime targets of 70 s genetic cloning, or more like cloning research. By the mid 1980 s scientists had cloned sheep and cattle by using nuclei from embryos, proving that animal cloning was, at least, possible. In 1995 scientists Campbell and Wilmut created two live lambs. They were cloned using quiescencial cells. This is when it was discovered that this kind of cell was best for cloning because it wasn t in any stage of cell division. Most recently, in 1997, the world famous Dolly was cloned from an adult ewe s cell. Cloning technology is moving forward at an accelerated rate. We may even see human clones in the next twenty years, but we may not.(If only because of moral issues.) HOW ANIMAL CLONING MAY AFFECT HUMANS Imagine you have cancer or the liver. You are one of many on a donor list for a new liver. Your chance of living is very, very slim. In the next 50 years this might not be a problem. You could have a clone. A dormant copy of your self in storage somewhere just waiting for you to take skin or organs from it. This is possible with cloning technology. We may be able to cure potential problems in humans while they are still just developing embryos. Or a couple whose child had died may have the baby cloned. We could one day be a disease resistant, super-human race. The possibilities for cloning are endless. MY VIEWS ON ANIMAL CLONING & THE PROS AND CONS OF ITI personally think that cloning is a great thing. I can t see any problems with it. It could better the lives of humans. I would like to grow old without having to fear that if had cancer I might die. I believe using various cloning techniques we will have donor bodies and cures for certain diseases. And eventually a healthier, genetically superior race. I think that it also would humble people to know that they are not so special, and that might motivate people to function better in society. I am excited to think that human cloned may be on the way.