The use of reproductive cloning in endangered species

Endangered species are defined as species at risk of extinction because of human activity, changes in climate, changes in predator-prey ratios, etc. There are quite a lot of solutions that we can offer towards this issue of animals at the brink of extinction. However, this blog is going to focus on the use of reproductive cloning in endangered species. Reproductive cloning is defined as a production of a duplication with heredity and genetic process on an existing organism, and in this case, an endangered species. 

The main idea and key concepts of cloning towards endangered species have always triggered the minds of scientists to conserve all those animals. As the world gets more modernized, with a more advanced field of technology and research, we are able to clone animals with a better perspective and understanding and in the future keep animals alive and away from the stage of extinction. These animals are very unique on their own and experience a trauma of suffer and hatred. Thus, there are a couple of benefits and limitations we must weigh on.

The benefits of reproductive cloning is that the limited number of extinct animals will not be that small, and there won't be any animals experiencing the stage of extinction therefore,  we can enjoy the habitat and reserve them so they will live safely in the wild with a good and adaptable environment. Another advantage is that if we clone from an adult animal of that species, it is understandable that the new cloned species will look exactly alike as the original species. Cloning offers so much as preserving the animals that are unique in individuality and also in their own personality they have gotten from the way they live. We should be able to gather the knowledge that these animals are very rare and must work hard and keep attention towards the habitat. This action of cloning is also harmless towards the society, and the process like "nuclear transfer" that is the same with normal birth. It does affect the society to have greater minds to have more attention towards that certain animal. Some animals in the world experience extinction because they have a difficulty in breeding and a very sought possibility that they are going to be able to create and result a new same species. With more research and knowledge towards subjects of cloning, we can clone animals with great morals and challenging lives.

The limitations of reproductive cloning in endangered species is that this is a very rare technique and is quite inefficient technique, scientists have not discovered a lot of research unlike subjects toward the human body and its function, and is a very complex technique and process to understand. Another limitation is that the majority of cloned animals cannot develop into healthy and strong individuals. One go the main limitation is the problem wot chromosomes, over time, the telomeres become so short that the cell can no longer divide and the consequences are that the tips of the chromosome will shrink and die. With this, this can result to a shorter life span and quality. One famous example of cloning animals is a sheep name Dolly, who was cloned from the cell of a 6-year-old sheep, who had chromosomes that were shorter than those of other sheep her age. Dolly died when she was six years old, about half the average of sheep's 12-year lifespan.

There are a number of essentials and components to create a successful and healthy living cloned species:

1. DNA from the animal which will be cloned 

2. A viable egg to receive the DNA from the cloned animal

3. A mother to carry a fetus in the won from conception which is the action of conceiving a child or of a child being conceived, until birth 

In the majority of times, hundreds of embryos are collected and restored and attempted pregnancies are needed to produce just a tiny digit of clones. Scientists does not have a clear image towards endangered animals' reproductive physiology yet, which makes risk stakes way higher than normal. Legal protections prevent the animals that are normally threatened from doing the procedures. To recoup or to regain their strength back, researchers fuse the DNA of an endangered species with eggs from a closely related species and select the mother from the latter. However, some hybrid embryos tend to fail to grow and develop properly.

This picture shows the process in which cloned animals experience.

One famous example of a successful cloning where it was known and still is known is a sheep named Dolly, who had developed and started all from a laboratory test tube. 

Ethical Concerns:

Ethical is defined as something related to moral issues, or also called social norms and principles.

The limitations of reproductive cloning in endangered species impacting towards the ethical issues are it impacts subjects like religion or culture,  which is one of the highest priorities towards the society. Some religion states that cloning animals, endangered animals, etc. can exemplify that they are taking or replacing the place of God. To summarize, cloning is not a natural process, therefore, it is interfering with God's plan for the universe.  By cloning animals, the people in the society would rely cloning to be the solution of the endangered situation, rather than focusing on how to keep and observe the habitat and the animals in a safe and non hazardous way. If cloning becomes one of the most prominent and the most usable technique to conserve the animal and the animals' habitat, people in the society would pay less attention towards the solution.

The advantages of reproductive cloning in endangered species impacting towards the ethical issue is that when we do techniques such as cloning, we must first determine carefully with sources such as scientific study what is their interests to ensure that they live good lives in the world they are created. Creating favorable conditions for extinct animals may require creating and developing new habitats in fresh and new environments when they can live in peace and flourish.

Solution:

This picture shows cloned mice which, in the future will work in the laboratory to find out more about curing human diseases.

As stated above,  reproductive cloning provides a great solution towards animals that are usually extinct because most animals that are on this generation would usually have a greater difficulty on breeding animals, and with this procedure the animal can be developed faster and create the goal population of that certain endangered organism increase and would not be endangered anymore. With a larger number of animals, we will pay more attention towards the habitat because we want those animals to live a life that the environment is good and safe, with no possibilities that any person would kill it because of hunting or occupation, etc. Reproductive cloning also can produce genetically identical species which can be used as models to discover an seven cure human, animal or organisms diseases. One example of this issue is the mice, which is the most commonly used laboratory animals, which reproduces rapidly and it genetics have been well discovered and known until the maximum. The mice have been successfully cloned and will likely facilitate the discovery of new treatments for diseases.

Conclusion:

Cloning is indeed a fascinating technique and procedure that will be more specific in the future with doctors who specialize on this procedure. Cloning provides a maintaining diversity towards the society. Who knows what will happen, but maybe we may get a glimpse of dinosaurs right in front of our faces, it all goes on towards the knowledge and the vast imagination of scientist. The majority of people who live in this society does not agree to the issue of letting ti be legal to clone animals and human. However, because of cloning animals, we can use them as experiments to cure diseases that have evolved towards human beings.

Bibliography:

• "The Roslin Institute." (University of Edinburgh). N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://www.roslin.ed.ac.uk/public-interest/dolly-the-sheep/a-life-of-dolly/>.
• "Reproductive Cloning." Prezi.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://prezi.com/04iuzayf6h1l/reproductive-cloning/>.
• Animal Cloning: ...Old MacDonald's Farm Is Not What It Used To Be."Actionbioscience. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotechnology/pecorino.html
• "Bioethics: Cloning Endangered Species." Prezi.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://prezi.com/tvl-0xdi0cx7/bioethics-cloning-endangered-species/>.
• Shreeve, Jamie. "Species Revival: Should We Bring Back Extinct Animals?"National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 05 Mar. 2013. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/03/130305-science-animals-extinct-species-revival-deextinction-debate-tedx/>.

Offline sources:

• Pickering, Ron. Complete Biology for Cambridge IGCSE. 2nd ed. N.p.: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.
• Stockley, Corinne, Chris Oxlade, Jane Wertheim, G. Smith, Kuo Kang. Chen, and Kirsteen Rogers. The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science. London: Usborne, 2001. Print.

The use of reproductive cloning in endangered species part 3

Original Website:   Website title: Cloning Endangered species

Reproductive cloning technology may be used to repopulate endangered species such as the African bongo antelope, the Sumatran tiger, and the giant panda, or animals that reproduce poorly in zoos or are difficult to breed. On January 8, 2001, scientists at Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), a biotechnology company in Massachusetts, announced the birth of the first clone of an endangered animal, a baby bull gaur—a large wild ox from India and Southeast Asia—named Noah. Noah was cloned using the nuclei of frozen skin cells taken from an adult male gaur that had died eight years earlier. The skin cell nuclei were joined with enucleated cow eggs, one of which was implanted into a surrogate cow mother. Unfortunately, the cloned gaur died from an infection within days of its birth. The same year scientists in Italy successfully cloned an endangered wild sheep. Cloning an endangered animal is different from cloning a more common animal because cloned animals need surrogate mothers to be carried to term. The transfer of embryos is risky, and researchers are reluctant to put an endangered animal through the rigors of surrogate motherhood, opting to use nonendangered domesticated animals whenever possible. Cloning extinct animals is even more challenging than cloning living animals because the egg and the surrogate mother used to create and harbor the cloned embryo are not the same species as the clone. Furthermore, for most already extinct animal species such as the woolly mammoth or dinosaur, there is insufficient intact cellular and genetic material from which to generate clones. In the future, carefully preserving intact cellular material of imperiled species may allow for their preservation and propagation.

In April 2003 ACT announced the birth of a healthy clone of a Javan banteng, an endangered cattlelike animal native to Asian jungles. The clone was created from a single skin cell, taken from another banteng before it died in 1980, which had remained frozen until it was used to create the clone. The banteng embryo gestated in a standard beef cow in Iowa.

Born April 1, 2003, the cloned banteng developed normally, growing its characteristic horns and reaching an adult weight of about 1,800 pounds. He was nicknamed Stockings and, as of 2007, lived at the San Diego Zoo. Hunting and habitat destruction have reduced the number of banteng, which once lived in large numbers in the bamboo forests of Asia, by more than 75% from 1983 to 2003.

In August 2005 the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana, reported that two unrelated endangered African wildcat clones had given birth to eight babies. Their births confirmed that clones of wild animals can breed naturally, which is vitally important for protecting endangered animals on the brink of extinction.

Paraphrasing:

Reproductive cloning technology are able to be used to repopulate endangered species or animals like the Africna Bongo antelope, the Sumatran tiger, and the giant panda and more, or also the animals the reproduce very poorly in places such as the zoo or animals that have difficulties in breeding. On the date January 8, 2001, scientists at a biotechnology organization or company located in Massachusetts called Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), announced the birth of the first clone of an endangered species, which is a baby bull gaur- a large wild ox from India and Southeast Asia- named Noah. Noah was cloned from the use of nuclei of frozen skin cells taken from an adult male gaur who had passed away in the previous eight years. The skin cell nuclei were combined with nucleated cow eggs, one of which was inserted towards a surrogate cow mother. Unfortunately, this clone gaur died from an infection within its days of birth. Occurring in the same year, Italy successfully cloned an endangered wild sheep. There is a vast difference in cloning a common animal and cloning an endangered species because cloned animals need surrogate mothers to be developed into the cloned animal. The transfer and procedure of the embryo is very risky, and researchers are very eager to put an endangered animal through the severity of surrogate motherhood, opting to use non endangered domesticated animals whenever it is ready. Since cloning extinct animals bring out a very risky and hard procedure, it is even more challenging because the egg and the surrogate mother used to create and develop the cloned embryo that are not the same species as the clone that will develop into. This, for extinct animals species such as the woolly mammoth or even a dinosaur, there is an insufficient unbroken cellular and genetic material from which to create and develop clones. 

In April 2003 the ACT organization announced the birth of a healthy clone of a Javan banteng, which is an endangered cattle like animal native to Asian jungles. This clone was created from a single skin cell, taken from another banteng species before it passed away in the year 1980, which had been stored and remained frozen until it was used to create another clone. This banteng embryo gestated, or was carried in the womb, in a standard beef cow in Lowa.

Born in April 1 2003, this cloned banteng developed normally like their own animal self, growing into its characterics and reaching an adult size which weighs approximately 1,800 pounds. He had a nickname, which was Stockings, and as of 2007, lived at San Diego Zoo. One of the main issues of endangered animals, which are Hunting and the destruction of habitat and environment, have reduced the number of banteng species, which once lived in large numbers in the bamboo forests of Asia which was their natural habitat from the start, by more than 75 % from 1983 until 2003. 

In August 2005, another organization, the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana, reported that two unrelated endangered African wildcat have given birth to eight babies. This issue strengthen the idea that clones of wild animals can breed very naturally, which is dominantly important for protecting endangered animals on the tip of the iceberg of their extinction.

Source of website/paraphrasing: "Cloning." Genetics;Genetic Engineering. 2008, Paul J. Muhlrad, De Stasio Elizabeth A., RONALD COLE-TURNER, Ricki Lewis, "Cloning: Applications to Biological Problems." World of Microbiology;Immunology. 2003, COLIN BLAKEMORE;SHELIA JENNETT, "Cloning." Medical Discoveries. 1997, MICHAEL J. KUHAR, "cloning Vector." A Dictionary of Biology. 2004, and "cloning." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.. 2014. "Cloning." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 2008. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/cloning.aspx>

Successful cloning contains of at least three essential and important components which are: 

1. DNA front he animal which will be cloned

2. A viable egg to receive the DNA from the cloned animal

3. A mother to carry a fetus in the womb from conception to birth

Most of the times, hundreds of embryos  and attempted pregnancies are needed to produce even just a small number of clones. Scientists does not have a good understanding towards endangered animals' reproductive physiology, which makes risk stakes way higher. Legal protections sometimes prevent the threatened species from doing the procedures. To recoup, researchers fuse the DNA of an endangered species with eggs from a closely related species and select the mother from the latter. However, some hybrid embryos often fail to grow and develop properly.

This diagram shows how reproductive cloning . In this picture we can see the procedure towards how in this case, how a lamb is being cloned.

Source: https://honchemistry.wikispaces.com/The+Three+Types+of+Cloning

The Use Of Reproductive Cloning In Endangered Species Post 2

Original Website:

It's extremely unlikely that dinosaur DNA could survive undamaged for such a long time. However, scientists have been working to clone species that became extinct more recently, using DNA from well-preserved tissue samples. A number of projects are underway to clone extinct species, including the wooly mammoth.

In 2009, scientists had their first near-success resurrecting an extinct animal. Using goats as egg donors and surrogates, they made several clones of a wild mountain goat called the bucardo—but the longest-surviving clone died soon after birth. Even if the effort eventually succeeds, the only frozen tissue sample comes from a female, so it will only produce female clones. However, scientists speculate they may beable to remove one X chromossome and add a Y chromosome from a related goat species to make a male.

Paraphrasing:

Dinosaur have been a real wonder towards the earth and is extinct since a long time ago. However, every now and then, scientists, archeologists, and more have found several bones of dinosaurs. If we could clone a dinosaur that would be amazing because we would understand and see a dinosaur in real life. However it is extremely difficult because the DNA of a dinosaur would not survive this long. However, with a more advance research, scientists have recently been working on techniques to clone species that became extinct in a few years ago or also recent, using DNA from  preserved tissue samples. With this experiment/technique, scientists began attempting to clone extinct animals like the wooly mammoth.

Since cloning was a complex technique, In 2009, scientist had their first near-success resurrecting an extinct animal. They use goats as egg donors and surrogates, they made several clones of a wild mountain goat which was called the bucardo. However, the longest-surviving clone died really soon after birth. There was another problem, the only frozen tissue sample comes from a female, so if scientists keep attempting to clone this animal, it will only produce female clones. After a while of researching, scientists found out that they may be able to remove one X chromosomes and add a Y chromosome from a related goat to make a male clone.

MLA format: "Why Clone?" Why Clone? N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/whyclone/>.

http://www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/how/areas-of-research/animal-cloning/

Concerns:

Ethical issues:

The definition of ethical is something related to moral issues; norms and principles. The fact that the process of cloning is extremely rare, people in the society feels that if we clone animals, and then it would be successful, scientists would be interested in cloning humans the same way as cloning animals, and the majority of people are against this idea. The animal organization would deny this action because they are using the animals as a field of research to see if they can successfully clone it.

By cloning animals, the people in the society would rely on cloning to be the solution of endangered situation, rather than focusing on how to keep and conserve the habitat and the animals in a safe way. Everyone would pay less attention on how to keep the environment in a proper state, but then focus on cloning animals. The ethical issues of reproductive cloning towards endangered species is that religion is one of the high priorities towards this subject. Some religions state that cloning endangered species or even an animal can exemplify that they are taking the place of God. This is why people are thinking that cloning is disrupting any place.

Source: http://prezi.com/tvl-0xdi0cx7/bioethics-cloning-endangered-species/

 The Use Of Reproductive Cloning In Endangered Species

Original website:

Reproductive cloning is the production of a genetic duplicate of an existing organism. A human clone would be a genetic copy of an existing person.
Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is the most common cloning technique. SCNT involves putting the nucleus of a body cell into an egg from which the nucleus has been removed. This produces a clonal embryo, which is triggered to begin developing with chemicals or electricity. Placing this cloned embryo into the uterus of a female animal and bringing it to term creates a clone, with genes identical to those of the animal from which the original body cell was taken.
More than eighteen cloned mammals have been produced with SCNT, but claims by rogue scientists to have cloned a human child have been false.
New techniques, such as the derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells via cellular reprogramming, suggest other potential methods of reproductive cloning.
Human reproductive cloning is almost universally opposed. Overwhelming majorities reject it in opinion surveys. Many international agreements and countries (though not the United States) formally prohibit it.
Some oppose reproductive cloning because of safety considerations. Animal cloning is seldom successful, and many scientists believe that reproductive cloning can never be made safe. Human reproductive cloning would also threaten the psychological well-being of cloned children, open the door to more powerful genetic manipulation technologies, and raise other social and ethical concerns.

Paraphrasing:  
Reproductive cloning is defined as a production of a duplication with heredity and genetic process on an existing organism. This review will describe the use and the benefits and limitations of reproductive cloning towards the endangered species. One technique of reproductive cloning is the Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), it is the most known and common type of cloning, this process starts by putting the nucleus of a body cell into an egg from which the nucleus has been removed. This produces a clonal embryo, which is known to start developing with chemicals or electricity. Placing this cloned embryo into the uterus of a female animal and bringing into the the position of a clone, with genes identical to the animal from which the original body cell was taken.There have been more than eighteen cloned animals which were mammals that have been produced with the cloning system of SCNT.

As the world becomes more modern with advance research and technology. Scientists begin to discover new techniques such as the derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells with cellular reprogramming, and other ideas that are potential to reproductive cloning.
People's opinion towards the act of cloning is being rejected. Many international agreements and countries formally forbid these actions. A number of people reject reproductive cloning because of the safety conditions and also the health conditions. Animal cloning is very rare, and in the majority of times, animal cloning is seldom successful. Most scientists think that cloning is unsafe towards animals and also towards human.
Source in MLA format:                                                                                                               "CGS : Reproductive Cloning." CGS : Reproductive Cloning. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2014. <http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/section.php?id=16>.

Benefits and limitations: 
The idea of reproductive cloning used towards endangered species has always triggered scientists minds to conserve those animals. These animals are unique and are occurring at a state of suffer, dread and torture. However, there are a number of benefits and limitations we need to weigh about reproductive cloning

The benefits of reproductive cloning is that the limited number of extinct animals will not be so little, and we can enjoy the habitat and reserve them so they will live in a safe environment.  Another advantage is that if we clone from a adult animal of that species, we will know that the new species will look exactly the same as the adult species. Cloning offers so much as preserving the animals whoa re unique in individuality and also in their own personality. We should understand that these animals are very rare and must work hard and keep attention towards the habitat. Some animals who need more attention because they have a difficulty of breeding and a very slight possibility they are going to be able to result a new species. With more research and knowledge towards the fields of cloning, we can clone animals with challenging lives.

The limitations of reproductive cloning towards endangered species is that it is a very rare and is a quite inefficient technique scientists have not discovered a lot of research unlike subjects towards the body, and is a hard technique and process to find and understand.  They cannot develop into healthy and strong individuals. Another problem is the chromosomes, over time, the telomeres become so short that the cell can no longer divide and the consequences are that the tips of the chromosome will shrink and die.With this, this can result a shorter life time and quality. One famous example of cloning animals is a sheep name Dolly,  who was cloned from the cell of a 6-year-old sheep, had chromosomes that were shorter than those of other sheep her age. Dolly died when she was six years old, about half the average sheep's 12-year lifespan.