Double Your Monkey
By Katherine Ball
Earlier this year, scientists celebrated the tenth anniversary of Dolly the Sheep’s unveiling. And in March, yet another cloning anniversary was commemorated. Yes, it’s also ten years since monkeys were first cloned in a sleepy town in Oregon. While this may not sound like an event to be throwing parties about, it was actually quite a remarkable milestone in the world of genetic forgery.
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So how exactly does this procedure, which is ostensibly divine intervention, work? And why are we doing it - apart from the obvious kudos of having ‘heavenly creational skills’ on your CV?
Well it’s actually quite simple, honest. Professor Greg Schatten from the Research Centre himself said, “It's really just artificial twinning”, and you know what, he’s right.
Schatten used a technique sometimes called “poor man’s cloning”. During the gestation period of animals, the sperm and egg cells combine to make an embryo. An embryo made up of eight cells can be divided into two four-cell embryos by scientists. These may – with a bit of tender loving care - develop into two genetically identical animals.
The same process happens naturally in multiple human births. In earlier cloning techniques the genetic material from the embryo splits was placed into empty cell sacks and allowed to develop, although this isn’t always as successful as modern cloning, as many don’t fully form or gestate properly.
Of course this is a wildly simplified version of events, but what it’s important to realise is that cloning, though it’s sometimes touted as “playing God”, can actually be really useful. The ability to clone animals can produce a group of genetically identical primates which can then be used to test drugs and help cure genetic conditions in humans in the long term. It’s important that test subjects are all genetically identical to allow proper analysis of the effects of particular substances and diseases and this is genuinely helping in the fight against diseases such as cancer, Cystic Fibrosis and Alzheimer’s.
Of course there is the philosophical debate about whether we should be “playing God” in this rather impertinent manner, but that really is a whole other New Testament…
If this has started you wondering, why not check out:
Blinded by science: genetic modification
Genes explained
Or if you're up for something a bit sillier, try:
UK to clone troops
Clones do it doggy style
Image: H/Ijsendoorn
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