Cloning Flashcards
describe the stages in the production of cloned mammals?
- remove the nucleus of a sheep’s egg cell, to create an enucleated cell
- a diploid (full set of paired chromosomes) nucleus is inserted into the enucleated cell (diploid nucleus taken from the udder cell of a different sheep)
- cells are stimulated by an electric shock; starts dividing by mitosis, just like a normal fertilised egg
- the dividing cell is implanted into the uterus of another sheep (the surrogate mother)
what are the ethical issues of cloning?
- the cloned embryo is created solely for destruction
- health risks to the mother
- low success rate meaning loss of large number of embryos and fetuses
- commodification of human life
what are the advantages of cloning?
- all new plants and animals are genetically identical therefore will have the desired characteristics
- organisms that are difficult or slow to breed normally can be reproduced quickly.
what are the disadvantages of cloning?
- if a clone is susceptible to disease or changes in environment, then all the clones will also be susceptible
- it will lead to less variation, and less opportunities to create new varieties in future
what is selective breeding?
in selective breeding humans breed from animals or plants that have desired characteristics that they want
what is natural selection?
in natural selection the organisms that breed are those that are best suited to the environment
what are the steps in selective breeding?
- decide which characteristics are important
- choose parents that show these characteristics
- mate the chosen parents showing the desired characteristics
- select the best offspring (that show these characteristics) from parents to breed the next generation
how can selective breeding be sped up?
- micro propagation of plants
- artificial insemination in animals
- embryo transfer in animals
- cloning of animals
what does DNA do?
DNA controls the joining together of amino acids to make proteins in our cells
how does DNA join together amino acids?
it is because of the sequencing of the base pairs:
- A (adenine) always pairs with T (thymine)
- G (guanine) always pairs with C (cytosine)
what is gene transfer?
this is where a section of DNA (a gene) is transferred from one living things chromosome to another’s. This is called genetic modification or genetic engineering.
what are restriction enzymes used for?
they are used to cut DNA at a specific sites so that a section of DNA can be taken from a cell
what are ligase enzymes used for?
they can be used to join together different sections of DNA at specific sites to create new DNA
what are vectors?
vectors take pieces of DNA and insert them into other cells
how do plasmids act as vectors?
bits of bacterial plasmids can be “cut” with enzymes called restriction endonucleuses. These bits of DNA are called recombinant DNA. New genes can be “glued” into them using ligases. In genetic engineering they are used to transfer genes from one living thing to another.
what is genetic engineering?
the process of removing a gene from one living thing and putting it into another
how do viruses act as vectors?
when a virus or plasmid is inside a host cell it may pick up DNA, it may then carry this into another host cell. The foreign DNA is known as recombinant DNA.
how is GM insulin produced?
- the gene for making insulin is cut from a length of human DNA using restriction enzymes
- it is inserted into a plasmid using ligase enzymes
- the plasmid goes into a bacterial cell
- the transgenic bacterium reproduces, resulting in millions of identical bacteria that produce human insulin
- this mass production is done inside a fermenter
what is a fermenter
a container in which fermentation takes place
what are the advantages of GM crops?
- can be manipulated to get desired characteristics
- can prevent hereditary diseases (less chemicals needed to kill weeds/pests) which is better for the environment
- greater yields
- can be made for specific environments
what are the disadvantages of GM crops?
- irreversible
- natural food chains disrupted
- not scientifically proven that they’re always safe for consumption
- may have unexpected characteristics