CLONING

Questions to be answered during this presentation:

1. What is Cloning ?
2. What are the various types of cloning ?
3. Advantages and disadvantages of cloning ?
What is cloning ?
 The term clone is derived from κλών, the Greek word for
"trunk, branch“.
 Clone means “ exact or carbon copies of a single parent”.
 In biology, cloning signifies the process of producing
populations of genetically identical individuals .
 In biotechnology, cloning refers to processes used to
create copies of DNA fragments (molecular cloning), cells
(cell cloning), or organisms.
Types of Cloning

1. Molecular Cloning

2. Plant Cloning

3. Animal Cloning
Molecular Cloning
 Molecular cloning refers to the process of making multiple copies of a
defined DNA sequence.
 Cloning of any DNA fragment essentially involves four steps:
1. Fragmentation - breaking apart a strand of DNA
2. Ligation - gluing together pieces of DNA in a desired sequence
3. Transfection - inserting the newly formed pieces of DNA into cell
4. Screening - selecting out the cells with new DNA
 Unicellular cloning -: derive a population of cells from a single cell.
 Cloning in stem cell research -: Somatic cell nuclear transfer, known as
SCNT, can also be used to create embryos for research or therapeutic
purposes.
Steps Involved in Molecular Cloning
Applications of GM microbes
Escherichi Production of Human
●

a coli insulin, human growth factor

Rhizobiu Nitrogen fixation by incorporating

●

“nif” gene in cereal crops

m meliloti

Pseudomonas Scavenging of oil spills by digesting

●

fluorescence hydrocarbons of crude oil

Oraganism Cloning
 Refers to the procedure of creating a new multi-cellular
organism, genetically identical to another.
This includes two types of cloning:
1. Plant cloning
2. Animal cloning
 Natural cloning is seen in :
 Horticulture such as grafting in
grapes, potato and banana.
 Parthenogenesis as in some lizards.
 Artificial cloning is seen in :
 Various GM foods like Bt – Cotton
 GM animals like Dolly the Sheep
Plant Cloning
 Used of producing
important agro crops.
 Based upon Totipotency
i.e. ability of a plant cell to
grow into a complete plant.
 Uses meristematic cells
present at shoot & root
apices.
 Many GM foods have
been produced by
scientists using these
methods.
Plant cloning
Some GM crops
Dolly The Sheep 1996-2003
 first mammal to be cloned
from a single cell.
 cloned at the Rollin
Institute in Scotland by Ian
Wilmut and his colleagues
 born after 237 eggs were
used to create 29 embryos,
which only produced three
lambs at birth, only one of
which lived
Steps in Animal Cloning
Human Cloning
 creation of a identical copy of an existing or previously
existing human
 two types of human cloning: therapeutic cloning
and reproductive cloning
 First human hybrid clone was created in November
1998, by American Cell
Technologies, from a man's
leg cell & a cow's egg whose
DNA was removed, destroyed
in 12 days.
Ethical Issues of Cloning
 Religious organizations oppose all
forms of cloning, on the grounds that
life begins at conception.
 On December 28, 2006, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
approved the consumption of
products from cloned animals
 Cloned individuals are often
biologically damaged, due to the
inherent unreliability of their origin
 Sense of individuality is lost
 Books
 The Ethics of Human
Cloning by Leon R.
Kass, James Q. Wilson
 On Cloning by John
Harris
 Websites
 www.wikipedia.org
 www.scribd.com
 www.genetics.org