What is Cloning?
Cloning is the process of producing genetically-identical individuals. Tissues as well as other organisms can be cloned using DNA. The copied genitic material, which is identical as the original organism, is reffered as a clone.
Are There Different Types of Cloning?
There are three major types of cloning. These types include therapeutic cloning, reproductive cloning, and gene cloning. Therepeutic cloning is the cloning of humans just for stem cells. This type of cloning reduces the risks of rejection. Reproductive cloning is cloning an organism's genetic material so an identical organism is born. Gene cloning is the transfer of of a DNA gene from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element such as a bacteria cell.
Reproductive Cloning
Reproductive cloning is a technique used to produce an animal that has the same DNA as another current or previously exsisting animal. Humans can also be reproduced through reproductive cloning. Dolly the sheep was the first succesful animal to be cloned, but also developed many diseases including lung disease and arthritis.
Therepeutic Cloning
Therepeutic cloning also know as "embryo cloning" is the cloning of human embryos to be used in reseaarch. A human embryo is the early stage of human life. When an embryo is cloned it is only used for stem cells. Stem cells are cells that are pluripotent which means they can turn into any type of cells. There are three types of stem cells. They include embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells,and umbilical cord stem cells. The type of stem cells that are used in therepeutic cloning are the embryonic stem cells. Since stem cells are pluripotent they are often used to repair human organs. Many scientists also believe these embryonic stem cells are the most promising. Many stem cells have been used in organ transplants and has been used to cure some diseases such as heart disease.
Can Organs be Cloned for Transplants?
Organs have not yet been cloned, but scientists hope one day that therepeutic cloning can be used to produce tissues and even organs. According to scientists many more difficult challenges have to be overcomed in order to make this idea possible. Researchers do not have the right technology today to perform such tasks but hope in the future they will be able to help many of the world's medical problems by cloning organs and tissues which can be used for transplants.
