Issues With Cloning
We often all hear about successful cloning outcomes but are obvisous to the failures during the process. This is because cloning is a very risky process involving alot of issues that can arise in the cloned indivual's development later in life. The risks and issues surrounding cloning pose the question to all of us...'Is it really worth it?'
Cloning has a high failure rate:
Cloning through somatic cells are very risky and result in more failures and deaths than successes. Infact 970-999 out of 1000 tries to make a clone will die and the rest that are successful often have some sort of abnormality or mutation arise later in life.
Cloning has a high failure rate:
Cloning through somatic cells are very risky and result in more failures and deaths than successes. Infact 970-999 out of 1000 tries to make a clone will die and the rest that are successful often have some sort of abnormality or mutation arise later in life.
Problem's arise later in development:
Another issue regarding cloning is the risk of "Large Organ Syndrome."
Studies show that cloned animals are much more susceptible to to developing larger organs than the original animal which can lead to breathing difficulty and blood flow problems. Other problems that can arise are the kidney and brain malfunctions or impaired immune systems later in life.
Another issue regarding cloning is the risk of "Large Organ Syndrome."
Studies show that cloned animals are much more susceptible to to developing larger organs than the original animal which can lead to breathing difficulty and blood flow problems. Other problems that can arise are the kidney and brain malfunctions or impaired immune systems later in life.
Abnormal gene expression patterns:
In cloning, one challenge is to re-program the transferred nucleus to behave as though it belongs in a very early embryonic cell.
In a naturally-created embryo, DNA is programmed to express a certain set of genes. As the cells begin to differentiate in the embryonic stage of development the program changes. In cloning, the transferred nucleus doesn't have the same program as a natural embryo. It is up to the scientist to reprogram the nucleus and manipulate the specific proteins with the cell before cell division. Complete reprogramming is needed for normal or near-normal development. Incomplete programming will cause the embryo to develop abnormally or fail.
Telometric differences:
Every time DNA is copied the telomeres within the chromosomes shrink in length. The length of the telemeres decrease with age and this occurs naturally. The problem arising with this is the situation if the original individual is already aged, and will effect the clones aging patterns.
When scientists looked at this problem they found that the chromosomes of cloned animals have been shorter than normal. This means the cloned cells are aging faster than that of the original animal cells, which in term leads to premature death of the clones.
In cloning, one challenge is to re-program the transferred nucleus to behave as though it belongs in a very early embryonic cell.
In a naturally-created embryo, DNA is programmed to express a certain set of genes. As the cells begin to differentiate in the embryonic stage of development the program changes. In cloning, the transferred nucleus doesn't have the same program as a natural embryo. It is up to the scientist to reprogram the nucleus and manipulate the specific proteins with the cell before cell division. Complete reprogramming is needed for normal or near-normal development. Incomplete programming will cause the embryo to develop abnormally or fail.
Telometric differences:
Every time DNA is copied the telomeres within the chromosomes shrink in length. The length of the telemeres decrease with age and this occurs naturally. The problem arising with this is the situation if the original individual is already aged, and will effect the clones aging patterns.
When scientists looked at this problem they found that the chromosomes of cloned animals have been shorter than normal. This means the cloned cells are aging faster than that of the original animal cells, which in term leads to premature death of the clones.