Cloning

By Geoffrey Murphy
What is Cloning?
Cloning in the biotechnology is creating genetically identical copy of a biological entity e.g. cells or organisms. There are 2 common methods practiced at the moment one is somatic cell nuclear transfer which is done by putting the nucleus of 1 adult animal cell into the empty egg of another; the adult cell is called a somatic cell which is why the process is called somatic cell nuclear transfer.

The other method is by placing DNA in self replicating element producing several copies of that particular DNA, this is a useful method to create plenty of copies of a single DNA strand. This method is called Recombinant DNA technology.

What are the uses of Cloning?

There are many uses for cloning but many come under ethical issues. One of the uses cloning can be used for is the revival of extinct species as if there is a close cousin of the animal still alive today then the species can be

recreated by the somatic nuclear transfer method so longer as some of there DNA is still intact. There however several problems with the cloning of extinct species, one of the problems is that to clone a specimen that will survive longer than a couple of days they require a perfect and untainted piece of DNA and if they are relying on a single piece of DNA the there is the problem the species will never be viable outside the lab as each organism will have the same DNA sequence so will not be able to reproduce properly. It can also be used to create human organs so there is no longer a shortage of particular organs, however there is large ethical issue as one of the methods put forward is to clone human beings and then harvest there organs this has been strongly rejected, other options put forward are the growing of organs in other animals such as pigs and cattle then harvested after for use in humans. Another use that helps massively in the research is the ability of the Recombinant DNA technology to create lots of strands of DNA to work and experiment so they do not need lots of live organisms get the DNA continually off. Another use of Cloning is if our reproductive cloning rate increases then certain organisms that for example produce drugs can be cloned on a commercially viable scale. This could create a great development in the agricultural field as really productive or drought resistant plants for example could be the only plant used in that area increasing productivity.

What are the Advantages of Cloning in Society?

There are several advantages of cloning; one is the ability to create an organ that may save the life of a human being who without the cloned organ would be unable to live because of the shortage of donors. Another advantage is the ability to reproduce animals without the need to worry about the mating for example Dolly the Sheep did not require any interaction between the female and male sheep to create the required material to create her. This could create large amount of benefits as we would no longer have to wait for certain seasons to wait for the calfs for example to be born as we could year round

produce them for the market. This would increase our production in many things and would allow us to copy the most successful animals so every animal of that type is has the same DNA as the original. We could also begin recreating extinct animals using the somatic cell transfer method; this has already begun with the Thylacine and could help in the understanding of how evolution works, it would also allow us to bring back some of the species we are destroying now, so we could bring the habitat back to normal with all the species present.

What are the Disadvantages of Cloning?

There are many disadvantages of cloning some of them are purely ethical while others are serious dangers. One of the disadvantages is that it requires so many resources to create a single organism for example dolly the sheep took several hundred somatic cell transfer procedures before she was created and she died young from a disease that should not have affected her. Also there is the problem of how the clones should be treated because they ideally would be exactly the same as the non-cloned organism; this is a dilemma as many of the benefits of cloning are reliant on the fact the cloned organism would be treated in a far more inhuman situation. There is also the problem of the more of the animal the more the gene stock is depleted causing the possibility of a single disease or virus wiping out a whole species because they do not have different genes to prevent some from the virus or disease. This could be a large problem in the agricultural market as if a virus where to infiltrate the animals and plants being farmed then there could be widespread destruction of the species of that particular animal or plant which could mean all of the animals on that continent could be wiped out by a single virus. There is also the problem that it may be used by some dictators to for example replicate the perfect human warrior; there are fears that by increasing our ability to clone we are just opening up the way for dangerous situations to happen. There is also the issue of people believing where playing God and believe it will only end in catastrophe so believe cloning should not be pursued.

Should Cloning be done?

Cloning should not be done commercially until it is fully understood and our cloning process becomes better, as there are too many problems that may arise and too many faults in the process that makes the clones. These are for example the fact it took hundreds of eggs to create a single clone, the clones are affected by diseases that should not affect them and also the problem of the limiting of our gene diversity. However we should still pursue the research in cloning as it opens up so many possibilities that it cannot be ignored and just be left unknown. The ability to bring back animals from extinct opens up whole new research opportunities, also the benefits to our productivity is large as we would not have to deal with the problem of the uncertainty of breeding the trait into others of that species. In conclusion cloning has too many benefits to not research but there are too many pitfalls so it must be thoroughly researched before it is commercially used and used in any other enterprise. Also the research learnt must not be widely spread so there can be no misuse of the technology by a corrupt dictator.

Bibliography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning .shtml http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning .shtml#whatis http://schools.sd68.bc.ca/ceds/library/cloning.htm http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-disadvantages-ofcloning.htm