Introduction to Cloning
Clones are cells or organisms that have the same genes as another organism. The two types of cloning we hear about most often are reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning.
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Reproductive Cloning
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Reproductive cloning creates a new organism with nuclear DNA identical to a previously existing organism. Some of the new organism's DNA comes from the egg's mitochondria, and this DNA is not the same as that of the cloned organism.
Animals
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The original reproductive clone was a tadpole, and Dolly the sheep was the first cloned mammal. Scientists have since cloned many mammals, including cats, cows and rabbits.
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Stem Cells
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Stem cells are special because they can become other kinds of cells. In adults, they have the nearly unlimited capacity to divide. They make new cells to repair damage. Researchers are especially interested in embryonic stem cells because they can turn into any type of tissue in the body.
Therapeutic Cloning
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Medical researchers create cloned human embryos through therapeutic cloning. Stem cells are taken from the cloned embryos, and researchers are learning how to use stem cells to treat diseases like cancer and organ failure.
Organs
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In the future, doctors hope to use our stem cells to create transplant organs. They will extract DNA from the patient, put it in a human egg and then harvest the stem cells. The stem cells will be used to grow a new organ with the same genes as the patient, making organ rejection less likely.
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References
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