Dolly the sheep was the first successfully cloned mammal twenty
years ago. After living a short life of 6.5 years compared to the average of
eleven years, Dolly passed due to Osteoarthritis. This progressive disease in
Dolly brought up an important question: Does cloning animals make them age
prematurely? At the time, no one had an answer.
Nine years ago, four sheep, Daisy, Diana, Debbie, and Denise, were cloned from the same cell line as Dolly. Today, those sheep are happy and
healthy. Now another question arises: How have Dolly’s clones lived longer?
To understand how this can happen, you must first understand
the procedure for cloning. To clone, scientists use a process called “somatic
cell nuclear transfer.” This process involves clearing DNA from an existing egg
and replacing it with the new DNA. However, it is always possible that not the
entire original DNA from the egg is removed. These little bits left behind can
alter an animal’s cells, tissues, and even their behavior. These cloned sheep
are perfect examples of this happening. All four look exactly like Dolly.
However, Debbie has stiff joints especially on a cold day. Also, scientists can
tell which MRI’s are hers, due to differences in her tissues and bones.
The topic of cloning can be a touchy one; there are benefits
and downfalls of it. On one hand, threatened species can increase their
population numbers through this process. On the other hand, there are many
questions on if it is safe and morally correct. At the end of the day, there is
clearly a lot more to learn about cloning from these sheep. Scientists hope to
study cellular and molecular differences in these sheep.
For me there is a repeating pattern of hesitation in scientific discoveries, and you dressed them in your blog post: is it safe and morally correct. Although there are many benefits to cloning, like increasing a population of species- there are also many, many, downfalls. If scientists were trying to stop a species from going extinct or endangered, in the future, they may be able to clone individuals of that species. However, will that fix the problem if the clones don't live long, have illnesses, etc.? Also, how will that affect other species? For every action there is a reaction, and it is very unclear what the reaction of cloning would be.
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