Cloning Essay

Cloning Essay

4/27/2011
Bio 1010
Cloning

The term cloning describes a number of different processes that can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. The copied material, which has the same genetic makeup as the original, is referred to as a clone. Researchers have cloned a wide range of biological materials, including genes, cells, tissues and even entire organisms, such as a sheep.
Cloning can occur naturally in nature in a sense, some plants and single-celled organisms, like bacteria, create genetically identical offspring though a process called asexual reproduction. In asexual reproduction, a new individual is created from a copy of a single cell from the parent organism. Natural clones are also known as identical twins, this occurs in humans and other mammals. These twins are created when a fertilized egg splits, creating two or more embryos as opposed to a single one. These two embryos carry almost identical DNA, and identical twins have nearly the same genetic makeup as each other, but they are genetically different from the parents.
When you hear the term cloning you probably think of artificial cloning. Artificial cloning falls into three different categories which are gene cloning, reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning. Gene cloning is when copies of genes or segments of DNA are produced. Gene cloning is also known as DNA cloning, and it is a very different process from reproductive and therapeutic cloning. Reproductive cloning is when a whole replicated copy of the animal is produced. Therapeutic cloning is when embryonic stem cells are produced for the purpose of experiments aimed at creating tissues or to replace damaged or diseased tissue. Reproductive and therapeutic cloning share many of the same techniques, but are done for different purposes.
You now know about the types of cloning, so now it is important to know how it is done. Researchers use cloning techniques to make copies of genes they want to study. The...