Cloning
Cloning is a biotechnology used in coming up with one or greater copies of an exact individual. We do cloning for development, growing older and biomedical research. This type of technological know-how has been successfully used global in plants, animal, and human. Identical twins can be made in the lab through cloning technology.
How it relates to the Course
Biological Concept
Cloning gives genetically identical effects of DNA fragments get similar copies of complete cells. A lot of emphases are put in reproductive cloning. It involves the extraction of DNA from a cell, manipulated and transferred to another. This system applies two techniques: embryo splitting and nuclear transfer.
In egg splitting, eggs are picked, then fertilized through in vitro and embryos are left grow to approximately 14 cells. Separation of cells is done and allowed to grow in different embryos. The embryos are then transplanted into surrogate mothers. Embryo divides into two half-embryos. It will eventually give birth to identical twins.
Nuclear transfer is seen as a difficult technique. Tissues cells from the animal to be cloned are kept in the lab to avoid their growth. Its nucleus is then removed. The embryo is implanted in the uterus of the surrogate mother. The newborn comes out with the exact DNA resembling the tissue donor.
Background Information
I first heard about Dolly, the sheep in the year 1997. This gave me a deep understanding about cloning before viewing clones that have been done in past years. To achieve this, the nucleic acid is manipulated and analyzed in the laboratory. The knowledge applied here, requires a lot of professionalism and it’s difficult to understand it.
Why Cloning Caught my Attention
To understand how technology is used in bringing a new life similar to the one that existed. For instance, when someone likes a particular animal e.g. dog or cat he can get a duplicate of it (Lustig, Richards, & Ruse, 2004). To discover how egg splitting is done to come up with identical twins. The challenging part is raising and splitting the embryo in the lab.
Important Issues
It is possible to get twins from a parent whose history only gives birth to one kid. A good and desirable gene can be gotten and kept for many years. Life has been made easy as human being organs such as kidney can be cloned. This makes it significant to my life, and everyone else as transplant can be done easily and faster without necessarily taking from another person.
Effect of Cloning
Cloning is very expensive and fails in most cases. A lot of laboratory works are done to come up with one clone. In most instances, the cloned individuals are prone to infections, poor growth shows some disorders, and life span is short. Human cloning has its effect as one resembles the other. This increases the risks of insecurity.
Funding Cloning process
Federal funds should be used in funding discoveries and experiments carried by scientists in animals and plants. No federal funds should be allocated for human cloning to avoid the risks to replicate ourselves (Lustig, Richards, & Ruse, 2004). Also, private sectors should fund the research with exemption of human cloning.
Rating
Cloning rating is useful as people are allowed to clone what they want. But useful clones should be done for medical reasons to define disease causing mutation and making of stem cells used in repairing the body. Also, cloning is done with intention of maintaining what you like such as pets and animals are good.
References
Lustig, A., Richards, R. J., & Ruse, M. (Eds.). (2004). Darwinian heresies. Cambridge University Press.
Website: https://opentextbc.ca/biology/chapter/10-2-biotechnology-in-medicine-and-agriculture/
