Science of cloning
when you clone a organism, you create an exact genetic copy of it. The DNA is identical. There are two different types of cloning; somatic cell nuclear transfer and artificial embryo twinning. There are some similarities and differences between them. They are both methods of producing clones and they both need a surrogate mother for the cloned embryos to finish developing. Artificial embryo twinning is the simplest way to clone; it mimics the natural process of twinning but in a petri dish. An early embryo is separated into individual cells. They are then placed into a petri dish where they develop, and then, the embryos are placed into the surrogate mother where they continue developing until birth. Because all the embryos came from the same egg, they are genetically identical. A somatic cell is any cell other then the sperm or egg cell. For somatic cell nuclear transfer,they isolate a somatic cell from the organism they want to clone. The nucleus is removed from an egg cell, and then the nucleus from the somatic cell is transferred into the egg cell; this turns into an embryo which is placed into a surrogate mother where it develops fully. It is difficult to clone extinct animals because it requires a well preserved piece of DNA from the extinct species, and also requires a closely related, living species who can be an egg donor and surrogate mother. |