MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE

KHARKIV UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS

Foreign Languages Department

Cloning

Performed by:

Hong Thuy Le

EI faculty (4-1)

group 6.04.51.10.01

Supervisor:

E. V. Polezhaeva

Kharkiv - 2013

МІНІСТЕРСТВО ОСВІТИ ТА НАУКИ,МОЛОДІ ТА СПОРТУ УКРАЇНИ

ХАРКІВСЬКИЙ НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ ЕКОНОМІЧНИЙ УНІВЕРСИТЕТ

Кафедра іноземних мов

Клонування

Виконала:

студентка 4 курсу 1 групи

факультету ЕІ

Ле Хонг Тхуй

Керівник:

О.В. Полежаєва

Харків – 2013

Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………..……………………….4

Part 1. Theoretical basis of cloning…..……………………………………………….6

1.1. Definition of cloning…..…………………………………………………..6

1.2. Cloning techniques…..…………………………………………………….6

1.3. Examples of cloning animals………………………………………………8

1.4. Human cloning…………………………………………………………….9

Part 2. Practical application of cloning……..…………………………………..……10

2.1. Reasons for cloning…………………………………………………..…..10

2.2. Risks of cloning…………………………………………….………….…12

2.3. Computer cloning technologies…………………………………………..14

Part 3. Issues relating to cloning….……………………………………………….…16

3.1. Ethical implications………………………………………………………16

3.2. Myths about cloning……………………………………………………..17

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..18

References…………………………………………………………………………...19

Introduction

Cloning is the process of making a genetically identical organism through nonsexual means. It has been used for many years to produce plants (even growing a plant from a cutting is a type of cloning). [1]

Scientists have been researching cloning for over 100 years. In 1885 the first animal was cloned in a lab, it was a sea urchin, by Hans Driesch.[2]

In 1928 Hans Spemann, a German embryologist, and his student, Hilde Mangold, were the first who performed somatic-cell nuclear transfer using amphibian embryos – one of the first moves towards cloning. Hans Spemann was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1935 for his discovery of the effect now known as embryonic induction, exercised by various parts of the embryo, that directs the development of groups of cells into particular tissues and organs.[3]

Animal cloning has been the subject of scientific experiments for years, but garnered little attention until the birth of the first cloned mammal in 1996, a sheep named Dolly. Since Dolly, several scientists have cloned other animals, including cows and mice [1]. Dolly was publicly significant because the effort showed that genetic material from a specific adult cell, programmed to express only a distinct subset of its genes, can be reprogrammed to grow an entirely new organism. Before this demonstration, it had been shown by John Gurdon that nuclei from differentiated cells could give rise to an entire organism after transplantation into an enucleated egg [4].

The Oregon group has been working on cloning human embryos for quite some time. For a number of years, the group optimized procedures in primates. They also have been developing similar nuclear transfer technology as a treatment for diseases caused by defects in mitochondrial DNA, which is only inherited from mother to child. The group's use of caffeine in the mixture to get the embryos to grow has been subject of a lot of discussion in the news and demonstrates how specialized the formulation needs to be to incubate the embryos.

The successful generation of human embryonic clones really is a breakthrough for stem cell research. The hope is that this technique can provide a reliable source of new human stem cells for research purposes. Eventually, they may also provide a source for medical use. In the future, it may be possible to grow and replace tissues or organs destroyed by disease using cloned stem cells that are genetically identical to a patient. While this is certainly science fiction, at this point, the technique developed by the Oregon researchers helps provide the knowledge needed to eventually make these sort of regenerative therapies a reality, even if, in the end, the actual treatments might not require these sort of cloned stem cells.[2]

Human clones in the form of identical twins are commonplace, with their cloning occurring during the natural process of reproduction. There are two commonly discussed types of artificial human cloning: therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. A third type of cloning called replacement cloning is a theoretical possibility, and would be a combination of therapeutic and reproductive cloning. Replacement cloning would entail the replacement of an extensively damaged, failed, or failing body through cloning followed by whole or partial brain transplant [5].

The aim of this research paper is to get acquainted with the process of cloning, cloning technologies and possibilities of cloning in the future.

The objectives of this paper are:

• to be aware about modern methods of cloning;

• to examine the process of cloning from the very start;

• to explore the real examples of cloning;

• to describe the possible ways of using cloning;

• to be informed about issues relating to cloning.

Object of the research is cloning researches all over the world.

Subjects of the research are cloning techniques, cloned animals and issues related to the cloning.

Cloning is closely related to genetic technology and epigenetics. The development and maintenance of an organism is orchestrated by a set of chemical reactions that switch parts of the genome off and on at strategic times and locations. Epigenetics is the study of these reactions and the factors that influence them.[6]

For the efficiency of the research paper I have used the scientific articles, monographs of leading scientists, research resources and material from the Genetic Science Learning Center of the USA.

The practical application of the paper is to acquire students with the modern cloning techniques and possible use of them in the future life.

The paper contains introduction, part one called “Theoretical basis of cloning”, part two called “Practical application of cloning”, part three called “Issues relating to cloning”, conclusion and references.