Researchers in China reported on Wednesday that they have created two cloned monkeys, the first time that primates have been cloned with the technique that produced Dolly the sheep more than 20 years ago.
The long-tailed macaques, named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, were made from fetal cells grown in a petri dish. The clones are identical twins and carry the DNA of the monkey fetus that originally provided the cells, according to a study published in the journal Cell. They were born at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.
Dolly the sheep was produced from udder cells that had been frozen for six years. Until that feat, many researchers had thought that type of cloning was impossible, because it required taking adult cells and bringing them back to their original state, when sperm first fertilized egg.
The cell would then have to start to grow in a surrogate’s womb and to differentiate into an entire animal, genetically identical to the one that provided the initial cell.
But once cloning proved possible, researchers began improving their method and testing it on other species. Since Dolly was born, researchers have cloned 23 mammal species, including cattle, cats, deer, dogs, horses, mules, oxen, rabbits and rats. (continues)
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Barbara Streisand cloned her dogs...
Alternate Quiz:
ReplyDelete1. What type of cells was Dolly produced from and how long had they been frozen?
2. How many animal species have been cloned since Dolly?
3. Name three types of animals that have been cloned.
4. T/F The monkeys in this video are the first primates to be cloned
5. Who is the director of the stem cell program at Boston Children’s Hospital?
6. How many embryos did Qiang Sun and his colleagues make and how many survived in the lab?
7. T/F This might allow scientists to probe the genes’ functions and to test experimental drugs on monkeys custom-made to have various genetic conditions.
Discussion Questions:
1. What is a benefit of cloning?
2. What are some downfalls of it?
3. What are the implications of the rights of the clone?
4. Is cloning humans ethical? Why or why not?
Links:
Here is an article on Dolly the first cloned animal, http://dolly.roslin.ed.ac.uk/facts/the-life-of-dolly/index.html
Here is an article on cloning as a whole is case anyone has any further questions, https://www.genome.gov/25020028/cloning-fact-sheet/
Focusing on your discussion questions:
Delete1. The benefit of cloning is that if consciousness becomes downloadable, then people can have clones of their bodies to be sheathed in. Organs may be harvested from these clones or they could be used to bolster the population as well as servants? for the originals.
2. The downfalls are figuring out bioethical questions such as should the clones get the same rights as the originals, is cloning even alright to do in the first place (specifically, with humans, because they are believed to have a soul).
3. I think the rights of a clone imply that the clone is a person within their own right, not property of the original. It challenges our perception of self as well as our belief in separate souls in bodies that have the same genetic makeup.
4. I don't think it is ethical. The clone did not ask to be there and should not be created at the whim of its original.
Potential Discussion Questions:
ReplyDeleteWho will cloning be available to?
Should we allow people to make clones of loved ones lost?
Knowing you are a clone; How would this impact individuality?
If cloning is used to create offspring, how would we be treating children as objects?
How would cloning affect constitutional law of procreation?
Should we allow cloning of cells to create genetically identical organs or body parts, but draw the line at complete human cloning?
Will a human clone have legal rights? Or would it be considered property?
How will human cloning impact religion or culture?
Articles related to cloning:
https://www.genome.gov/25020028/cloning-fact-sheet/
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Francisca_Diaz3/publication/7546990_Cloning_of_an_Endangered_Species_Bos_gaurus_Using_Interspecies_Nuclear_Transfer/links/562116e008aea35f26819497/Cloning-of-an-Endangered-Species-Bos-gaurus-Using-Interspecies-Nuclear-Transfer.pdf
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/biotech-dna-technology/dna-cloning-tutorial/v/dna-cloning-and-recombinant-dna
https://www.google.com/amp/variety.com/2018/film/news/barbra-streisand-clone-dogs-samantha-1202711047/amp/
https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10415.html
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ReplyDeleteI remembered Peter Singer's arguments on specieism while we watched the nuclei extracted from the monkey cells. I didn't feel right about it, although I know its just an emotional reaction, given the information that only 10% of the cells would make it.
ReplyDeleteThere is a company called Clonaid that claimed to have cloned a human girl in the early aughts."Clonaid is an American-based human cloning organization, registered as a company in the Bahamas. Founded in 1997, it has philosophical ties with the UFO religion Raëlism, which sees cloning as the first step in achieving immortality. On December 27, 2002, Clonaid's chief executive, Brigitte Boisselier, claimed that a baby clone, named Eve, was born. Media coverage of the claim sparked serious criticism and ethical debate that lasted more than a year. Florida attorney Bernard Siegel tried to appoint a special guardian for Eve and threatened to sue Clonaid because he was afraid that the child might get the treatment of a lab rat.[1] Siegel, who heard the company's actual name was not Clonaid, decided that the Clonaid project was a sham.Bioethicist Clara Alto condemned Clonaid for premature human experimentation and noted the high incidence of malformations and fetal deaths in animal cloning."
https://www.wired.com/2002/12/clonaid-baby-a-clone-or-a-fake/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonaid
https://www.clonaid.com/