Cloning

Question 1

Animals could be cloned to:?

Answer 1

• mass-produce animals with desirable characteristics
• produce animals that have been genetically engineered to provide human products
• produce human embryos to support stem cells for therapy

Question 2

What is an ethical dilemma concerning human cloning?

Answer 2

Some people think it is wrong as they will not be true individuals

Question 3

What are the steps of the process of nucleus transfer?

Answer 3

• the donor egg cell had its nucleus removed
• the egg cell nucleus was replaced with the nucleus from an udder cell
• the egg cell was then given an electric shock to make it divide
• the embryo was implanted into a surrogate mother sheep
• the embryo then grew into a clone of the sheep from which the udder cell came

Question 4

Cloning technology could be useful in a number of ways, however there are also worries regarding them, what are these?

Answer 4

Genetically modified animals could be cloned to supply replacement organs for humans. Some people are worried that this could lead to diseases being spread from animals to humans

Question 5

What are the advantages of producing cloned pants?

Answer 5

Growers can be sure of the characteristics of each plant as all the plants will be genetically indentical. It is also possible to mass-produce plants that may be difficult to grow from seed

Question 6

What are the disadvantages of producing cloned plants?

Answer 6

If the plant becomes susceptible to disease or change in the enviromental conditions, then all plants become affected. There is a lack of genetic variation in plants

Question 7

How are plants cloned by a process called TISSUE CULTURE

Answer 7

• a plant is selected that has certain characteristics
• a large number of small pieces of tissue are then cut from the plant
• the small pieces of tissue are then grown in tests tubes or dishes containing a growth medium
• aseptic technique is used at all stages to stop any microbes infecting the plants

Question 8

Why is cloning plants easier than cloning animals?

Answer 8

Because plant cells retain the ability to differentiate, animal cells lose this ability at an early age

Question 9

What is nuclear transfer?

Answer 9

A process that involves removing the nucleus from a BODY cell and placing it into an egg that has had its nucleus removed