Essay, Research Paper: Cloning

Cloning Today
During my interview with my grandmother I asked her what
she thought of cloning. she responded by saying that it was not
right and should be stopped. on the other hand i have a different
opinion. I think that cloning should be continued and furhter
researched for we might be able to have different organs and
substances produced in these clones. Below is the step that
were taken to clone the adult sheep named Dolly.
Part 1: An Improbable Goal Scientists hoped that cloning
healthy, mature sheep, rather than just creating lambs from
embryonic cells, could produce a highly specialized sheep with
large quantities of proteins in its milk. The proteins are believed to
help treat diseases such as emphysema, hemophylia and cystic fibrosis.
Part 2: The Perfect Timing For years, scientists could not
synchronize the growth of the egg and the cell. If one was off-
synch, abnormal chromosomes would soon transform in the
nucleus and thereby kill off the embryo. Dr. Wilmut achieved near
perfection in the timing by putting the cells into hybernation; of the
277 eggs they began with, 247 lived through the process. Timing
the growth in other species, however, has proved to scientists
that cloning mature animals is extremely difficult; in the case of
mice, they've concluded it can't be accomplished.
Part 3: Jump-start from a Jolt Though it has become a
standard procedure in cloning, scientists are not sure why an
electric pulse sent to the two cells causes them to meld together
and activates development in the egg. They are learning,
however, the shock doesn't fully mimic the activation process of a
sperm, which could explain why just 29 of the remaining 247 cells
live longer than six days.
Part 4: Surrogate Motherhood Despite the fact that the newly
formed embryo is transplanted into the uterus of another ewe,
scientists believe Dolly is a nearly exact carbon-copy of her
genetic originating mother. In theory, that means an almost exact
look-alike of John F. Kennedy Jr. could be produced by taking
cells from his skin, melding their nuclei with any woman's egg that
has had its nucleus removed and then planting the embryo in a
surrogate mother.
Part 5: A 6-Year-Old in 7 Months? Scientists are eagerly
watching Dolly to see if she exhibits the characteristics of her
mother, a 6-year-old sheep, or those of her own age, just 7
months. As animals and humans age, changes occur in their DNA
- such as decreasing fertility and increasing susceptibility to
cancer and other diseases. If she prematurely ages, clones of
mature animals would be useless to the agriculture industry.


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