Horse Cloning?!?!

    In today’s technology, there are new discoveries made daily, the horse industry is no exception. In 2003, the horse industry changed forever. The first successful cloning of a horse (a filly named Prometea) took place in the spring of 2003. Since then technology has only improved and there has been somewhere in the neighborhood of a couple hundred cloned horses produced. Cloning, in terms of the horse, is a complex process of producing individual organisms with identical DNA. This would mean producing a foal with the same DNA as a preceding horse. This is most common in the highest levels of competition. Cloning is no cheap expense. Although the price has gone down it still runs around $90,000. As the first article states cloning seems to have no real benefit except that breeders know what the horse can grow to be (height, weight, muscling, and possible medical immunity.) Clones show no direct relation to their competitive performance. They also grow and develop very similar to that of a naturally bred horse. It is easiest to think of a clone as an identical twin born at a different time. Clones require the same amount of work and training as those of naturally bred means and will not reach their previous full potential without it. Clones also may not have the same demeanor as the previous horse depending on the environment they grew up in. After reading this article about cloning in horses I don’t find cloning to be unethical. If there is not a clear-cut link to their previous competitive performance I do not see a problem in cloning. Although this is not a natural process and can be abused in many ways by irresponsible breeders, it can also advance our knowledge significantly of genetically inherited medical issues in the horse and possibly save others in the future. I am in agreeance with the idea of cloning in equines for medical purposes.

https://horseracingsense.com/can-cloned-horses-race-it-ethical-expensive/

https://www.dvm360.com/view/cloning-new-reproductive-tool-equine-veterinarians

https://www.nature.com/articles/news030804-8

cloning long-dead species

An article published in NewScientist magazine in 2008 illustrates the findings of a study that successfully cloned dead mice. The research team utilized the nucleus from cells and were injected into eggs that'd had the nucleus removed. The fact that the cells utilized were from tissue that had been frozen for over 15 years, woke up the idea that extinct species frozen in permafrost can be "resurrected".

In 2009 a publication in the NatGeo site, pointed the findings of a process where the pyrenean ibex was the first extincted animal to be brought back from extinction, though it died two days after being born, (dead of organisms is common in cloning experiments). This news produced mixed feelings, since it was the first animal to survive de-extinction passed birth but also the first one to be extincted two times.
Like most genetic topics, there is controversy surrounding this one. Opposers say that people should try to find ways of preserving existing species, instead of trying to bring back extincted ones. The truth is, that up to 0.1% of the total species go extinct each year, mostly due to humans. Every species an important part of the ecosystem, and bringing them back will cause mostly a positive impact in the ecosystem they left behind; but it is also true that we have try harder at protecting the species that remain alive.

Why are bananas so susceptible to diseases?

One of the most delicious fruits, specifically Cavendish bananas, is at risk. A fungus is spreading and it is out to get the Cavendish banana that is sold in North America and Europe. This disease is known as the Panama disease. Although this disease spreads slowly, it completely wipes out bananas where ever it goes. It is known as Tropical Race 4 or TR4 and it has been spread to China, Indonesia ,Southern Africa, and Asian countries such as Pakistan and Lebanon. Gert Kema examined the fungi from each of the locations where it had spread in order to identify strains of TR4 that infected the plants.

When cells copy, small variations in DNA occur as they reproduce and after a period of time it all adds up. Comparatively, TR4 works differently and does not produce these variations. As Kema gathered DNA samples from each of these locations, he found that each DNA sample was an exact match of each other. Surprisingly, he found that this is because each spore is a clone of the original fungus that invaded Taiwan. This study shows that each fungus is genetically identical. Some bananas could have resisted the fungi if small variations in the DNA occurred. But since the genes in all of the bananas and the disease were very similar, they could not resist the fungi. Cavendish bananas lack any diversity and are all planted together which is what sparked the disease to spread very easily. Scientist have tried to figure out how to stop the disease from spreading, but it is very difficult to do so. TR4 starts from the soil and grows long hyphae after attacking the plants roots. The long hyphae blocks the plants vascular system which reduces the amount of water it receives, eventually causing it to wilt. The fungus than continues to release spores into the soil, which is a main contributor to causing a wide variety of bananas to die as they are planted because once a plantation is infected, it will stay infected for decades. 

For now, scientists hope that they can develop bananas that are resistant to the fungus. But since bananas and TR4 lack genetic diversity on a tremendous scale, it will be very difficult to decrease the amount of bananas that are vulnerable to TR4.