The Pros And Cons Of Animal Cloning

My topic is cloning, which is the production of a cell or organism that is genetically identical to the parent. Two examples of things that can be cloned are genes and animals. For genes, a gene is taken from one organism and enters a carrier called a vector, which can be bacteria, yeast cells, viruses, or plasmids. The vector is then placed in laboratory conditions which makes it multiply, resulting in the gene being copied many times over, or cloned. For animals, a mature somatic cell is taken from the animal that they wish to clone. The somatic cell is then inserted into the DNA of an egg cell. The egg cell is then implanted into the womb of an adult female and the offspring has the same genetic makeup as the somatic cell donor. Cloning can be used for medicine, reviving endangered or extinct species, or …show more content…
Stem cells, which can transform into other cells, are beginning to be used more in the medical world. Stem cells can be mass produced by cloning. Also, scientists have reproduced desired traits in an animal species population by cloning multiple generations. For example, a group of Scottish scientists cloned a sheep that had good protein in its milk, resulting in clones which also produced good protein in their milk. An additional benefit of cloning is the ability to perform selective breeding without needing two parents. Another benefit of cloning is that it can reproduce a deceased pet. This can be done by taking some of the pet’s DNA from a somatic cell and inserting it into a female egg cell of the same species. Then, the offspring will be a pet with the same DNA as the deceased. Endangered and extinct species can even be revived with cloning. Through animal cloning, just like bringing back a deceased pet, endangered or extinct species can be repopulated. However, not everything about cloning is beneficial, as there are some negative