ASSESSMENT (page 48-49)

I
1.C
2.B
3.A
4.A
5.C

II

Is Adult DNA Cloning Moral?

 Human reproductive cloning remains universally condemned, primarily for the

psychological, social, and physiological risks associated with cloning. ... Because the risks
associated with reproductive cloning in humans introduce a very high likelihood of loss of life,
the process is considered unethical.

What are the steps taken to clone an animal?

 Animals are cloned in one of two ways. The first is called embryo twinning. Scientists
first split an embryo in half. Those two halves are then placed in a mother’s uterus. Each part of
the embryo develops into a unique animal, and the two animals share the same genes. The
second method is called somatic cell nuclear transfer. Somatic cells are all the cells that make up
an organism, but that are not sperm or egg cells. Sperm and egg cells contain only one set of
chromosomes, and when they join during fertilization, the mother’s chromosomes merge with
the father’s. Somatic cells, on the other hand, already contain two full sets of chromosomes. To
make a clone, scientists transfer the DNA from an animal’s somatic cell into an egg cell that has
had its nucleus and DNA removed. The egg develops into an embryo that contains the same
genes as the cell donor. Then the embryo is implanted into an adult female’s uterus to grow.

How is producing a GM plant different from producing a GM

animal?
 Producing a GM plant involves introducing a recombinant plasmid into a plant cell and
letting that cell grow into a plant. Producing a GM animal requires injecting a gene into a
fertilized egg, then retuning that egg to a uterus where it can develop.
Compare and contrast the techniques for producing a GM animal and
a cloned animal?
 Producing Genetically Modified Animals
Biologists routinely use DNA technology to make vaccines and growth hormones for
treating farm animals. However, only recently have researchers tested ways to genetically
modify the animals. Genetically modifying animals is more difficult than producing GM
plants. In mammals, the procedure requires extracting an egg cell from a female. Sperm
from the same species is used to fertilize the egg in a "test-tube" environment. Then the
desired gene is injected into the fertilized egg, and the egg is returned to a uterus (womb)
where it can develop into an embryo. It usually takes many attempts before an egg
actually incorporates the DNA. If the embryo develops successfully, the result is a GM
animal. The offspring contains a gene or genes from a third "parent" that may even be of
another species.

The goals of genetically modifying an animal are often the same as the goals of
traditional breeding. For instance, researchers try to make a sheep with better-quality
wool, a pig with leaner meat, or a fish that will mature in a shorter time. In other cases the
goal is to make a transgenic animal that produces a large amount of an otherwise rare
biological substance for medical use. Most cases involve adding a gene for a desired
human protein, such as a hormone, to the genome of a farm mammal. The gene is added
in such a way that the desired human protein is secreted in the animal's milk. The human
protein can then be purified. This is a good method for cloning certain genes that are not
expressed well in bacterial clones (meaning that when the same genes are placed in
bacteria, the protein products are not made well, or at all).

 Animal Cloning
You have so far learned how individual genes can be cloned in bacteria, plants, or
animals. Entire genomes can be cloned, too. For centuries plants have been cloned from
cuttings, as you will learn in Chapter 20. In recent years, scientists have figured out how
to clone animals—first the famous sheep named "Dolly," and more recently, cats and
pigs. In cloning an entire animal, the nucleus from a single cell of that adult animal
replaces the nucleus of an unfertilized egg cell from another animal of the same species.
The procedure is much the same as that described above for producing a GM animal,
except that instead of inserting a gene into the egg cell, an entire foreign nucleus (and all
its genes) replaces the egg's own nucleus. The egg then develops into an animal that has
the same genome as the nuclear donor. The new animal is a clone of the animal that
supplied the nucleus. Cloning offers the potential to mass-produce an animal with a
desirable set of traits. This is much faster than using traditional animal breeding to select
for a certain set of traits over several generations of animals. One particularly useful
application is cloning a GM animal. This could prove easier than starting from scratch to
produce each new animal.

Give example of a potential risk posed by GMOs.

The GMO Controversy
You may have heard news stories questioning the safety of crops carrying artificially inserted
genes. Could they be harmful to human health or to the environment? For example, could GM
crops pass their new genes to closely related plants in nearby wild areas? Pollen from crop plants
carrying genes for resistance to herbicides might fertilize the flowers of related wild plants. The
offspring might then become "superweeds" that would be very difficult to control. The National
Academy of Sciences released a study in 2000 finding no evidence that crops genetically
modified to resist pests pose significant health or environmental risks. However, the authors of
the study recommended stricter regulations on how GM crops are used and suggested further
research.

Another concern is that GM plants or animals could have unknown risks to human consumers.
Some consumers think labeling that clearly identifies GM products should be required.
Transgenic farm animals used to make medicines may also pose certain risks. For example,
human proteins produced in the milk of an engineered animal might differ slightly from natural
human proteins. For this reason the proteins have to be tested very carefully. It is important to
make sure that the proteins in medicines or foods produced by GMOs will not cause allergic
reactions or other negative effects in individuals receiving them.

Governments and regulatory agencies throughout the world are dealing with issues of how to
ensure that new biotechnology products and procedures are safe. In the United States, several
government agencies evaluate all genetic engineering projects for risks.