Cloning Entire Organisms

Cloning Entire Organisms

Introduction

Cloning is the creation of an organism that is an exact copy of another organism. This means that their DNA is identical. Generally speaking, there are three different types of cloning I will briefly touch on. Cloning experiments are being performed for a variety of reasons. Everything from the ability to repair or replace damaged tissues to the creation of a dead or lost pet is some of them. However, I will only discuss one type of cloning process in particular, reproductive cloning. There is concern all around the world today when it comes to the ethics of artificial cloning. It is a very costly and repetitive process to even produce a viable offspring. Some side with the prospect that it can rebuild species that are close to extinction while others see it as a solution to infertile couples trying to procreate.

Debates on cloning provide an opportunity to observe the social aspects of a novel technical option. Research into how cloning is constituted in these debates has demonstrated that in the years following the announcement of the first cloned mammal, the famous sheep Dolly, the prospect of human cloning has shifted from science fiction to scientific practice; at the same time, it has become particularly controversial. Media scholars and social scientists are concerned with the discursive frames and strategies that shape the debates and with how the discussion of a particular technique is linked to more general expectations about the role of science in a democratic society. This entry discusses the technoscientific developments and the media and public debate on both animal and human cloning.

Three Different Types of Cloning

1. Gene Cloning

Gene cloning is the association of trans-genesis and reproductive cloning, which follows a general principle that replaces a gene by another which in turn produce an animal, a special protein or a gene (Horst, 2005).

2. Therapeutic Cloning

Therapeutic cloning is supposed to eventually obtain organs compatible with the human body to overcome the imbalance between demand and organ donation. These organs may be derived from pigs and could allow xeno-transplantation (animal to human).

Scholars and scinetists are still striving to obtain success one day to form cells by obtaining neurons, muscle cells, bone or other (Horst, 2005).

3. Reproductive Cloning

Cloning for reproductive purposes is a possible substitute for natural reproduction. It allows the production of individuals (animals, plants, and human) genetically that is identical and selected for various reasons. Reproductive cloning is very often used in addition to trans-genesis (Horst, 2005).

How Reproduction process is completed?

1. Artificial Embryo Twinning

Artificial embryo twinning is relatively weak version of cloning technology. As its name suggests, this technology mimics the natural process of creating identical twins.

Artificial embryo twinning uses the same approach, but it occurs in a petri dish instead of the mother's womb. This is accomplished by manually separating a very early embryo into individual cells, and then allows each cell to divide and develop on its own. The resulting embryos are placed in a surrogate mother, where they are completed and ...