Biotechnology: Advantages And Disadvantages Of Reproductive Cloning
Introduction
Biotechnology involves the use of living organisms. It is mainly used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. It is used all around the world, but mainly by the rich countries, like the United States, Spain, France and more. In medicine, biotechnology has many functions. From DNA sequencing, to healthcare biotechnology, to cell replacements. The main focus of this report is cloning. Cloning is the act of duplicating an organism through the use of biotechnology. Cloned subjects are known as clones. A clone is an organism that is an exact genetic copy. Every piece of their DNA is a copy of another organism. The first successful known case of cloning is Dolly The Sheep in 1997. Dolly was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell however, she died in 2003 because she had a progressive lung disease. Because of this, the clone also turned out to have this progressive lung disease and quickly died a few days later. See appendix 1 for more information about the life of Dolly The Sheep.
There are three main types of cloning, gene cloning, reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning. Gene cloning involves process in which a gene is chosen and duplicated out of the DNA that is removed from an individual. Reproductive cloning involves the creation of an animal that is genetically identical to a donor animal through the use of SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer). Therapeutic cloning is the production of stem cells with the same genetic composition as the patient. The type of cloning focused on for this report is reproductive cloning.
Reproductive cloning uses a method known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in order to clone an animal. In somatic cell nuclear transfer, the nucleus, which contains the organism’s DNA, is removed using a glass needle under a microscope and the rest of the cell is discarded. At the same time, the nucleus of an egg is removed using a suction pipette to keep the egg still and a glass needle to extract the nucleus out. The nucleus of the somatic cell is then inserted into the enucleated cell using a smaller needle. After being inserted into the egg, the somatic cell nucleus is adjusted by the host cell. The egg, which now contains the nucleus of a somatic cell, is stimulated with shock and at the same time, will begin to divide. After many mitotic divisions, this single cell forms a blastocyst, which is an early stage embryo with about 100 cells, with almost identical DNA to the original organism. (James, 2014). See appendix 2 for a detailed picture outlining how somatic cell nuclear transfer works.
The purpose of this report is to investigate all the advantages and the disadvantages of cloning so that at the end, a justified decision is made on whether cloning should be or should not be allowed in the near future.
Past, Present and Future changes
Past
In the past, the main method that scientists used to clone was IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation). It starts by taking the proper medication in order to allow the eggs to mature and be ready for fertilisation. The doctor then takes the egg out of the body and mixes it with sperm cells in a lab. This is to help the sperm to fertilise the egg. After, they put one or more of the fertilised eggs directly into the uterus. Pregnancy will occur when any of the fertilised eggs implant in the lining of the uterus. (Paransingh, 2015). View appendix 3 for more detailed information about how IVF works. This method however began to decrease in usage rate over the years after the SCNT method has been discovered.
Present
The current preferred method of cloning that scientists use is SCNT (Somatic cell nuclear transfer). It is a strategy for making a usable embryo from body and egg cells. It involves taking an egg cell and implanting a body cell’s nucleus inside. Currently, this technique is used in most countries that look into cloning and how it can change the way we live. It has only been successfully conducted in one experiment involving the well-known sheep, Dolly. Almost all other experiments involving cloning have been regarded as failures as the clones either do not function properly, or die from organ failures. Not a lot of people, including scientists, agree with cloning. Dr. Wilmut, who is a famous embryologist opposed the idea of cloning and specifically said: “what are we doing? Playing God? It’s not up to us to create human beings in mechanical or scientific ways” (Rogers, 2015). However, many people do believe that given time, we will be able to master it and clone human beings.
Future
A handful of strategies are available in order to improve cloning in the near future. The main strategy that could be used to improve cloning in the future is the use of unsilenced genes. Gene silencing is the regulation of gene expression in a cell to prevent the expression of a c