Investigate and assess the effectiveness of cloning

Investigate and assess the effectiveness of cloning, including but not limited to:

  • whole organism cloning
  • gene cloning

Effectiveness of cloning:

  • Gene cloning has been an efficient way to produce hormones, enzymes found in living organisms in vitro because they are being used to treat diseases and being used for promoting certain mechanisms in industrial processes as well. A notable example is Insulin which is a hormone that controls blood sugar level and is necessary for aiding patients diagnosed with diabetes. Industrial production of insulin has made it more accessible by patients.
  • Cloning techniques were used in certain forms of gene therapy where a therapeutic gene was introduced in a vector and then the vector containing the therapeutic gene was inserted into the patient. But, such techniques for treating genetic disorders have not been successful due to barriers like immune response by the host (since most vectors are microorganisms, they are normally treated as pathogens and thus become subject to immune response), short lived nature of the cells, multigene disorders and cost.
  • Gene cloning have been adapted to create genetically modified plants which have proven to provide high yield, disease resistancy and variation. Some crops have also been approved for human consumption such as Bt potato, Bt tomato etc.
  • Whole organism cloning refers to creating copies of all the genes present in an organism. While gene cloning focuses of specific gene segments, whole organism cloning is more driven towards cloning the whole genome. Scientists have conducted successful organism clonings, examples include Dolly the sheep, Snuppy the dog, Noori the pashmina goat, Macaque monkey and many more animals. Human clonings however, are rather controversial and have raised ethical issues which imply to animal cloning as well. Not all organism clonings are successful and it has been found that cloned organisms don’t have a very long lifespan.

 

Extract from HSC Biology Stage 6 Syllabus. © 2017 Board of Studies NSW.

EasyBio > Genetic Change > Genetic Technologies > Investigate and assess the effectiveness of cloning

Investigate and assess the effectiveness of cloning, including but not limited to:

  • whole organism cloning
  • gene cloning

Effectiveness of cloning:

  • Gene cloning has been an efficient way to produce hormones, enzymes found in living organisms in vitro because they are being used to treat diseases and being used for promoting certain mechanisms in industrial processes as well. A notable example is Insulin which is a hormone that controls blood sugar level and is necessary for aiding patients diagnosed with diabetes. Industrial production of insulin has made it more accessible by patients.
  • Cloning techniques were used in certain forms of gene therapy where a therapeutic gene was introduced in a vector and then the vector containing the therapeutic gene was inserted into the patient. But, such techniques for treating genetic disorders have not been successful due to barriers like immune response by the host (since most vectors are microorganisms, they are normally treated as pathogens and thus become subject to immune response), short lived nature of the cells, multigene disorders and cost.
  • Gene cloning have been adapted to create genetically modified plants which have proven to provide high yield, disease resistancy and variation. Some crops have also been approved for human consumption such as Bt potato, Bt tomato etc.
  • Whole organism cloning refers to creating copies of all the genes present in an organism. While gene cloning focuses of specific gene segments, whole organism cloning is more driven towards cloning the whole genome. Scientists have conducted successful organism clonings, examples include Dolly the sheep, Snuppy the dog, Noori the pashmina goat, Macaque monkey and many more animals. Human clonings however, are rather controversial and have raised ethical issues which imply to animal cloning as well. Not all organism clonings are successful and it has been found that cloned organisms don’t have a very long lifespan.

Extract from HSC Biology Stage 6 Syllabus. © 2017 Board of Studies NSW.