Cloning

what does cloning mean?

making an exact copy of an organism that is genetically identical

what are the two ways of cloning plants?

1) tissue culture

2) cuttings

describe what tissue culture does

• from the parent cell → tissues are removed from the tip of the plant

• the tissue is placed on a medium containing growth hormones

• then hundreds of clones can be made

what are the benefits of cloning by using tissue culture?

parent cells can be made quickly - in very little space - and can be gown all year

what is tissue culture used by?

tissue culture = used by scientists to preserve rare plants that are hard to reproduce naturally and by plant nurseries to produce lots of stock quickly

describe what cuttings does

• cuttings are taken from a parent cell, each with a new bud on

• the cuttings are then kept in moist conditions until they are ready to plant

• a cloned plant is then made

what are the benefits of cuttings for cloning?

can be produced quickly and cheaply

what is cuttings like compared to tissue culture for cloning?

cuttings is an older, simpler method than tissue culture

what is a way in which animal clones can be produced?

by using embryo transplants

how do embryo transplants work for animal cloning?

an embryo is created → then split many times in the early stages to form clones

• the cloned embryos are then implanted into host mothers to continue developing

what can adult cell cloning be used for?

used to make animal clones

what is the process of adult cell cloning?

• an unfertilised egg cell is taken and it’s nucleus is removed

• then from an adult body cell, the nucleus is removed

• the nucleus from the adult body cell is then placed inside the now ‘empty’ egg cell (that had it’s nucleus removed at the start)

• the egg cell is then stimulated by an electric shock (making it divide)

• once the embryo is a ball of cells → it is implanted into the uterus of an adult female

• here is where the embryo grows into a clone of the original adult body cell

what are the benefits of cloning?

• cloning quickly gets you lots of ‘ideal’ offspring with known characteristics → this can benefit farmers

• could lead to a greater understanding of the development of the embryo and of ageing and age-related disorders

• could be useful to help preserve endangered species

what are the concerns of cloning?

• it gives you a ‘reduced gene pool’ - meaning there are fewer alleles in the population → as there are less alleles there is a likelihood of the population being wiped out by a new diseases as there is less alleles that could give resistance to it

• there’s a possibility that cloned animals might not be as as healthy as normal ones

• some people worry that humans will be cloned in the future