DNA Cloning the Future

• Many living organisms only need one parent to reproduce~ asexual reproduction.

• Single-celled organisms like bacteria use asexual reproduction.

• The bacteria inherit the genes from only one parent, so the genes are identical to their parents are each other.

• We call genetically identical organisms clones.

• The only difference between them will be caused by their environment.

• Most animals use sexual reproduction.

• The offspring have two parents so they are not clones.

• Clones, however, are sometimes produced we call them identical twins.

• Identical twins have exactly the same genes, but they came from both parents. So they are clones of each other but not clones of their parents.

• Scientists have already cloned animals, this is much more difficult.

• Dolly the sheep was the first ever cloned sheep to be born.

How Dolly was cloned...

• The nucleus was taken from an unfertilized sheep egg cell. The nucleus is then taken out of a body cell from a different sheep, this body cell nucleus was put into the empty egg cell. The cell grows to produce a new animal, its genes will be the same as those animal that donated the body cell nucleus. So it is a clone of that animal.

• It took 277 attempts before Professor Wilmut's team managed to clone Dolly.

• Sadly Dolly died in 2003 aged 6. Dolly's illness may not have been to do with her being cloned, she may have died at an early age anyway, but one case is not enough evidence to decide.

• More research is needed to be done before cloned mammals will grow into healthy adults.