Cloning

Cloning is the process of artificially reproducing a gene, set of genes, or a whole organism. One of the most common uses of cloning is to create many identical copies of a certain gene. To accomplish this, the gene is isolated and then inserted into a bacterium. The bacterium is then allowed to reproduce, copying the inserted gene with it. This method is currently being used in the human genome project to make copies of human genes to study.

Cloning is also used in agriculture to produce identical reproductions of a crop. A tissue sample can be cut from a parent plant and then exposed to a mixture of nutrients and specially manipulated hormones that cause it to grow roots. At that point the clone can be transferred into soil and grown normally. Thousands of offspring can be created from a single plant using this method by simply dividing the tissue sample before it is able to take root. Using these ideas scientists have been able to create artificial "seeds" from cells that would otherwise never be able to reproduce. By inserting cell samples into a tiny, specially prepared hormone-nutrient mix container a biotechnologist can create thousands of seeds that will grow into genetically identical crops. The benefits to such crops are many: strong plants can be isolated for reproduction without wasting resources on plants with poor yields, genetically identical plants mature at the same rate simplifying the harvest season, and yields are generally more dependable. The drawbacks are the costs and the reduction of genetic diversity. A disease that threatens one plant will also threaten all of its clones.

Recently geneticists have taken cloning a step further and have begun to successfully work with animals. In 1997 Scottish scientists announced that they had made the first clone of a mammal by taking the genetic information from an adult sheep and inserting it into an egg, which was then allowed to mature in a surrogate mother. The resulting offspring was proven to have genes that were identical to its parent. This startling breakthrough has many implications, especially when one considers that a similar process would probably work with humans.

Scientists in South Korea have produced the first dog clones, they report in Nature magazine this week. One of the puppies died soon after birth but the other, an Afghan hound named Snuppy, is still doing well after 16 weeks, the researchers say.

Although many other animals have been successfully cloned, dogs are notoriously difficult: the South Korean team only obtained three pregnancies from more than 1,000 embryo transfers into 123 recipients.

Of these, one miscarried and one died soon after birth; only Snuppy remains.

The hairy puppy, like other cloned animals, is generating a flurry of interest around the world.

Some people are concerned about the ethical implications of this research.

"Canine cloning runs contrary to the Kennel Club's objective 'To promote in every way the general improvement of dogs'," Phil Buckley, spokesman for the Kennel Club told the BBC News website. "Cloning cannot be used to make improvements because the technique simply produces genetic replicas of existing dogs.

"Also, will these cloned dogs end up being used in the laboratory? That opens a whole new can of worms."

НУБіП України Ф-7.5-2.1.6-24

НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ УНІВЕРСИТЕТ БІОРЕСУРСІВ ТА ПРИРОДОКОРИСТУВАННЯ УКРАЇНИ

Факультет Педагогічний

Напрям підготовки Філологія (переклад)

Форма навчання денна

Семестр 4-6 Курс4

ОКР «Бакалавр»

Кафедра романо-германських мов і перекладу

Дисципліна Практика письмового та усного перекладу

Викладач Сидорук Г.І.

«Затверджую»

Завідувач кафедри (Ніколенко А. Г.)

«»2012 р.

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