July 5, 2021
Cloning
- Humans can carry out various procedures to create clones of plants and animals.
- These new individuals (clones) are genetically identical to the parents.
- Therfore, we are required to know the details of cloning in I/GCSE Biology.
Cuttings✂️
- New plants can be produced quickly and cheaply by taking cuttings from older plants.
Tissue culture🧫
- This uses small groups of cells from part of a plant to grow new plants.
- They are grown in special growth media that provides all the essential nutrients and conditions for growth.
Embryo transplants💉
- This involves splitting apart cells from a developing animal embryo before they become specialised.
- The identical embryos are then implanted into the wombs of host mothers.
Fusion cell cloning
- This involves replacing the nucleus of an egg cell with the nucleus of an adult cell.
- An electric shock is used to start the cell dividing to form an embryo.
- This could be used to create stem cells to grow new tissues or organs.
Adult cell cloning🔬
- This involves implanting an embryo formed by fusion cell cloning into the womb of a host mother, where it develops until it is born.
- This could be used to clone animals with desired characteristics or even to save animals from extinction.
Diagram: An example of cloning - cloned lamb
Concerns about cloning
- People do not want human babies to be cloned.
- It produces lots of genetically identical individuals; they may struggle to survive if there is a change in the environment.
That's the end of the topic!
Drafted by Joey (Biology)
Reference:
https://getrevising.co.uk/resources/biology_revision_notes4