Cloning
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The
concept of cloning, or creating an exact copy of a certain organism, was
begun in the 1950’s with the work of Dr. F. C. Steward. In his work, he grew exact copies of a
single carrot plant from slices set in a sterile solution. This was the scientific foray into the
world of cloning. |
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Cloning
of animals was begun with J. B. Gurdon, who replaced the nucleus of a frog
egg with one from the intestine of a tadpole. This tadpole matured into a clone of the first (The one that
donated the nucleus, not the egg). In
1984, bits of genes taken from the extinct quagga, a zebra-like animal, were
cloned. This was much akin to the
work elaborated upon in the film Jurassic Park. |
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The
first mammal to be cloned was a sheep named Dolly, done in 1997. Accomplished by British scientist Dr. Ian
Wilmut, the clone of Dolly was created by introducing the DNA of one sheep
(taken from a cell from the mammary gland) into an egg that had had it’s
genetic material removed. Though
Dolly was a clone of the original sheep, she aged much faster than the first,
which has been a source of intense study since her death. Presently, cloning research is being done
with cows in the hope of producing ones with more desirable meat and
milk. Work on human cloning has been
met with sharp opposition among both scientists and religious leaders, and
will continue to be a source of conflict for the new century. |
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