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    Cloning

    Cloning is the act of replicating the genetic code, cell populations, and species. There are three types of cloning: molecular, reproductive and therapeutic. Molecular cloning is used to amplify sections of DNA, reproductive cloning is to create genetically similar organisms, and therapeutic cloning is to produce stem cells from embryos.  Molecular cloning has four main steps: fragmentation, ligation, transfection and screening – process is used to produce populations of recombinant DNA. In fragmentation, a DNA strand is unraveled using DNA helicase and then restriction enzymes extract the target sequence. In ligation, DNA ligase adds sticky ends to the target sequence for easy attachment to plasmid DNA. In transfection, the new DNA strand is placed in a cell. Screening is to ensure that selected cells successfully accepted the inserted DNA. These cells are then cultured to produce clones of the parent recombinant DNA strand.

    Reproductive cloning creates genetically identical organisms by asexual reproduction – most common usages are for plants and animals. In plants, certain species of crops are constantly being cloned for commercial process such as strains of navel oranges. Organism cloning uses Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) and it is frequently carried out with cows and sheep, a notable example is Dolly. In SCNT, the nucleus of an embryo is removed and replaced with a nucleus from donor cell. The cell is then inserted into uterus of a female sheep to carry out the pregnancy, and the offspring produced is a clone. It is a highly complex process that has many ethical implications.

    Therapeutic cloning is based on the production of stem cells from embryos for the study of embryogenesis and potential treatments of disease.  The nucleus of the ova is removed and placed into adult cell, this act to reprogram the cell – it will divide and form a blastocyst which can be differentiated into any cell.  

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    Stem Cells and Cloning

    Hi, i need some help for ideas for these questions: 1. List the steps in the cloning process. 2. Researchers are unable to guarantee that their work with stem cells will produce beneficial results. How should this uncertainty influence the debate on whether scientists should be allowed to conduct such research? Why??

    Food Safety and Animal Welfare Cloning Technology

    How does cloning impact both food safety and animal welfare, i.e., what is the relationship of cloning to both food safety and animal welfare? Note: Please give a example or examples from a agricultural commodities (cattle, swine, poultry, etc.) & cite references. Discuss briefly.

    Human Cloning Therapy

    If we do not move forward with either therapeutic or human cloning, perhaps we're preventing ourselves from making new revolutionary scientific discoveries. What if our next technological revolution rests with bio-technology? Shouldn't we move forward in hopes that bio-technology will yield tremendous results?

    MRNA and cDNA cloning

    (i) If you have a full-length cDNA clone that is a perfect copy of an mRNA species you ought to be able to predict the primary amino acid sequence of a translation product. For a mouse gene how would you do that? (ii) If only one species of mRNA were produced for the gene in question how would you determine that the

    Gene Cloning, Manipulation, & Applications

    Hw 13. 1. What is meant by the term "clone"? Why is it important to obtain large quantities of a particular DNA sequence? List the steps you would take to obtain a clone of a DNA sequence. 2. For each of the following, give a brief description: restriction enzyme vector recombinant DNA molecule sticky ends

    Biotechnology Application: Benefits and Negative Impacts of Reproductive Cloning

    Biotechnology allows us to use living organisms or their processes for human needs or purposes. Currently, this topic includes such general examples as cloning, stem cells (adult, umbilical cord, and embryonic), DNA fingerprinting, biological warfare, bioremediation, genetically modified organisms, vaccines, and transgenic plant

    Problem: You want to clone a cDNA into an expression vector so you can make large amounts of the protein in E. coli. The cDNA is flanked by BamHI sites and you plan to insert it at the BamHI site in the vector. The manual recommends that you cleave the vector DNA and then treat it with alkaline phosphatase to remove the 5' phosphates. The next step is to mix the treated vector with the BamHI-cut cDNA fragment and incubate with DNA ligase. After ligation the DNA is mixed with bacterial cells that have been treated to make them competent to take up DNA. Finally, the mixture is spread unto culture dishes with a solid growth medium that contains an antibiotic that kills all cells that have not taken up the vector. The vector allows cells to survive because it carries a gene for resistance to the antibiotic. The cloning manual also suggests four controls: Control 1: plate bacterial cells that have not been exposed to any vector onto the culture dishes. Control 2: Plate cells that have been transformed with the vector that has not been cut. Control 3: Plate cells that have been transformed with vector that has been cut (but not treated with alkaline phosphatase) and then incubated with DNA ligase (in the absence of the cDNA fragment). Control 4: Plate cells that have been transformed with vector that has been cut and treated with alkaline phophatase and then incubated with DNA ligase in the absence of the cDNA fragment).

    This experiment is discussed: You want to clone a cDNA into an expression vector so you can make large amounts of the protein in E. coli. The cDNA is flanked by BamHI sites and you plan to insert it at the BamHI site in the vector. The manual recommends that you cleave the vector DNA and then treat it with alkaline phosph

    Biotechnology and reproductive cloning.

    Biotechnology allows us to use living organisms or their processes for human needs or purposes. This current topic includes such examples as cloning, stem cells (adult, umbilical cord, and embryonic), DNA fingerprinting, biological warfare, bioremediation, genetically modified organisms, vaccines, and transgenic plants and anim

    Analyze the issue of cloning and its impact on the future of society.

    *Is it society's moral obligation to populate the world with people who have perceived finer characteristics? Explain. *Should society try to build a better society for everyone? A society that does not include terrorism, war, and greed? Explain. *Could cloning become our evolutionary destiny? Explain. * Be c

    DNA cloning and genetic disease

    8. Explain how information of the sequence of cloned genes can shed light on the function of their coding genes. 9. Explain how PCR can be used in the diagnosis of a genetic disease.

    cloning ethics

    There are several different efforts currently in progress to clone humans. In fact, several groups have claimed success but offered no evidence to support this claim. In your opinion, is it ethical to continue with these plans? Aside from the ethical considerations, are there any other concerns associated with human cloning?

    Guidelines for Human Cloning

    The United Nations realizes that at some future date, some government will be prepared to pay for human cloning in order to develop professional athletics who have been scientifically bred and engineered to win olympic competitions. It is also probable that the owners of major league football and professional baseball teams will