Cloning has different areas, including natural cloning, plant cloning, animal cloning, human cloning, and organ cloning. Natural cloning occurs through asexual reproduction, while plant cloning is done through vegetative propagation. Animal cloning can reproduce extinct species and prized pets, while human cloning can help infertile couples or create a child with the same genetic potential as a deceased loved one. Organ cloning is theoretically possible and could provide many advantages. Other types of cloning include molecular cloning, expression cloning, and cell line cloning.
Cloning. The word conjures science fiction images of massive laboratories filled with human-sized tanks and mysterious equipment. When some of the benefits of cloning are discussed, however, the reality tends to be far less dramatic. There are many different areas of cloning, each of which has different potential benefits. Some of these include natural cloning, called asexual reproduction; the cloning of plants, called vegetative propagation; reproductive cloning of animals; reproductive cloning of humans; and organ cloning.
Some living organisms in nature can duplicate without the need for a partner. Unless mutated from an external source, the offspring are usually genetically identical to the parent organism. This is called asexual reproduction and is a type of cloning. This type of cloning is possible in bacteria, fungi, plants, some invertebrates and rarely in higher order animals. The benefit of cloning in this way to the organism is that a single individual can repopulate an entire ecosystem. If there were only one human left on earth, that person could not repopulate the world with others of his kind; a single bacterium, however, could.
Gardeners and horticulturists have known the benefits of cloning for years. They use cloning in a process called vegetative propagation. Also known as a cutting, a section of a live plant is cut. This section is then placed in a medium such as soil or water and often treated with hormones. In many cases, the roots will grow from the cutting and the result will be a viable, genetically identical new plant. Some advantages of cloning in this way are that particularly resistant plant lines can be reproduced for use in diseased areas, individual plants can be shared among gardeners, and the reproduction of plants that have an offending sex can be avoided.
Reproductive cloning of animals occurs when an egg without a nucleus is successfully combined with a donor cell. This type of cloning has happened before, but is not expected to have a high success rate for many years. Some advantages of cloning in this way are that extinct and near-extinct species could be reproduced for zoos and/or reintroduction into the wild; highly prized pets could be duplicated to improve feed yield in the dairy, beef, swine, and poultry industries; a new pet could be created with genetic potential similar to that of a lost loved one; and winning race animals could be cloned for competition.
Reproductive cloning is theoretically possible even in humans. The benefits of cloning humans, however, may change with the moral standing of the people discussing the topic. Using reproductive cloning, a couple unable to conceive could have cloned each other’s eggs implanted in the female. The clones would have the potential to be born just like normal children and could be raised just like normal children are.
In a slightly different scenario, a wife whose husband has recently died could have his DNA inserted into one of her nucleated eggs and have a child with the same genetic potential as her. In an extremely sci-fi twist, the process of reproductive cloning could be used with the DNA of notable historical figures such as brilliant scientists and famous world leaders. The resulting children would have the same genetic potential as the famous people they were cloned from, but would not have the same memories, experiences or education.
Organ cloning is a type of cloning that does not currently exist but is theoretically possible. With organ cloning, human organs could be grown from a small sample of cells for a specific patient. Organ cloning has many potential advantages: cloned organs would not have the potential to be rejected by their recipients as donated organs currently do; cloned organs would be more available than donated organs; and cloned organs could be enhanced through DNA manipulation to fix defects.
While this has been a long list regarding the benefits of cloning, it is not exhaustive. Other types of cloning and possible benefits include molecular cloning, expression cloning, and cell line cloning.
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