What is Cloning?

What is Cloning?

1. Who is Dolly? Dolly is the clone that was cloned from another female sheep in 1997.

2. When a zygote divides into to separate cells, it is called: a two-celled embryo

3. Somatic cells are also called Diploid Cells (body cells).

4. In order to clone a gene, a gene is inserted into a Petri dish.

5. In order to create an embryo from a somatic cell, the donor egg cell must have its nucleus removed.

Click and Clone

6. List all the materials needed to clone a mouse. You will need a mouse to clone, an egg cell donor, a surrogate mother, a microscope, a Petri dish, a sharp pipette, a blunt pipette, and chemical to stimulate cell division.

7. Place the following steps in the correct order.

4 Stimulate cell division
6 Deliver baby
2 Remove and discard the nucleus from the egg cell
1 Isolate donor cells from egg donor and germ cell donor
3 Transfer the somatic cell nucleus into the egg cell
5 Implant embryo into a surrogate mother

8. There are two time gaps in the process of cloning. What are they? The first is that the new DNA needs to adjust to the new egg cell and the second is that the cell needs to divide a few times before it can be implanted.

9. What color with the cloned mouse be? Brown What is the name of this mouse? Mini-Mimi

Why Clone?

10. Why is cloning extinct animals problematic? Cloning extinct animals could be problematic because it may be difficult to find well preserved DNA from the extinct animal. Finding a closely related animal to be a surrogate mother.

11. What are some reasons a person might want to clone a human? Reasons someone might want to clone a human include helping infertile couples have children, helping gay couples have children, and replacing a dead child.

The Clone Zone

12. What animal was cloned in 1885? In 1885 sea urchins were cloned.

13. How did Spemann separate the two cells of the embryo of a salamander in 1902? He used embryo twinning. To do this he used a nose hair and baby hair tied together and split the two in half.

14. The process of removing a nucleus is called enucleation.

15. In 1952, the nucleus of a frog embryo cell was placed into a donor cell. Did it work to clone the animal? No, the few cloned tadpoles grew abnormally.

16. Can the nucleus of an adult cell be injected into an egg cell and produce a clone? Yes, there was no loss of genetic material when using adult cells.

17. Why are mammals hard to clone? Their DNA is very complex and mammals oftentimes develop differently depending on environment.

18. What were the names of the first two cloned cows? Fusion & Copy

19. In what year was the National Bioethics Advisory Council formed? 1995

20. The first mammal clone to be produced from an adult (somatic) cell? Dolly the sheep

21. What do scientists do to adult cells to make them "behave" like embryos? They "reboot" the cells.

22. Transgenic, cloned sheep were used to produce what medical protein? They produced human clotting factor IX protein.

23. What is a stem cell? A stem cell is a cell that every cell in the body starts out as. A stem cell can become any cell your body needs.

Cloning Myths

24. Briefly describe in your own words, why CC the cat was not identical in color to Rainbow, even though she was a clone. When Rainbow was young, one entire X chromosome was turned off which caused her to have orange hair instead of black. When she donated cells to CC the X chromosome that was turned off in Rainbow was turned on in CC which caused her to have black hair.

25. What is "nature vs nurture"? Nature vs nature means that even though your genes determine your traits, environmental factors can impact your personality or physical appearance. An example of this is identical twins, they may look slightly different and can have entirely different personalities.

Is it Cloning or Not?

26. For each of the following scenarios, indicate YES (it is cloning) or NO (it is not cloning)

No Sperm taken from a mole goat is combined with a female's egg in a petri dish. The resulting embryo is implanted into the female's uterus to develop
Yes A sheep embryo, composed of 16 cells, is removed from the mother's uterus and separated into indivudal cells. Each cell is allowed to multiply, creating 16 separate embryos, which are then implanted in different female sheep to develop to maturity.
No A cow with many desirable traits is stimulated with hormones to produce a number of egg cells. Each of these eggs is fertilized and implanted into a surrogate mother.
No In vitro fertilization
Yes Cell nuclei from an extinct wolly mammoth are placed into enucleated cow cells.

27. Define or describe each of the following processes (you may need to reset the Cloning or Not Screen)

Invitro fertilization: The Invitro process is when a mothers egg and a fathers sperm are fused together and planted back into the mother.

Embryo splitting: Embryo splitting is dividing a single embryo into many pieces. Those pieces produce genetically identical animals so it is considered a form of cloning.

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer: Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer is a process where a nucleus that contains only half a genome (sex cell) is replaced with an adult cell of any kind to produce an identical clone.

Multiple Ovulation Embryo Transfer: Multiple Ovulation Embryo Transfer is a way to produce an animal with certain genetic qualities faster. They accomplish this by manipulating the animal hormonally to produce more eggs during ovulation.

Artificial Insemination: Artificial Insemination is the process of inserting sperm into an oviduct or uterus by unnatural means.

What Are the Risks of Cloning?

28. What is one reason why cloning animals has such a high failure rate? One reason clones fail is that the enucleated egg and the transfered nucleus may not be compatible.

29. What is a telomere and how does it affect cloned animals? When a DNA strand is copied, the DNA becomes shorter and shorter until you eventually die from old age. Because cloned animals formed from adult DNA, their DNA could already be shorter than normal and shortening their lives. But, some studies have shown that some cloned animals have LONGER strands of DNA while others have far shorter strands than normal.

30. Pick one of the questions to ponder and ....ponder it. Write a brief essay on your thoughts and opinions. I chose to write my brief essay on the problems that cloned animals can face. From the time the clones cells are being produced, they already face a large number of problems like the enucleated egg and the transfered nucleus not being compatible, the egg of the newly transfered nucleus not dividing properly, the implanted embryo may fail, or even problems with the pregnancy itself. There are so many problems in fact that out of every 1000 clones attempted, only 30 clones survive, a 3% survival rate. At birth, clones can be much bigger than normal counterparts. This is called Large Offspring Syndrome (LOS). LOS can lead to abnormally large organs that will eventually lead to breathing, blood flow, and other issues. Finally, they will most likely live a shorter life than their natural counterparts. As I said before, "When a DNA strand is copied, the DNA becomes shorter and shorter until you eventually die from old age. Because cloned animals formed from adult DNA, their DNA could already be shorter than normal and shortening their lives. But, some studies have shown that some cloned animals have LONGER strands of DNA while others have far shorter strands than normal." Altogether, their lives are short, painful journeys that no animal or human should endure.

Source: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/

Epigenetics and Environment

1. Often the physical characteristics of genetically identical twins become increasingly different as they age, even at a molecular level. Explain why this is so.

The environment a person in can influence their epigenome. The video spoke about how identical twins are very similar at birth, but then as their individual environment changes they become more unique. It showed how different the twins became from eachother. Different factors influencenced the twin's epigenome. The twins unique habbits further differentiated them. Specific habbits like smoking and exercising can especially affect the epigenome.

2. Name 3-4 environmental factors that influence the epigenome.

A major factor that would affect the epigenome would be smoking or even second hand smoke. Smoking has a very negative impact on the epigenome while something like excercising has a very positive impact on the epigenome. As you could imagine, food has a great deal of influence on your epigenome because you are putting it into your every day. The decisions you make when you eat have a very large impact on your epigenome. Other things that can have an impact on your epigenome are stress, your home life and even the people you are around.

3. What is an imprinting gene?

Imprinted genes are genes whos expressions were determined by their parent gene.

Discuss factors in your daily life that could be affecting your epigenome.

By far, the largest factor in my daily life that affects my epigenome is stress, specifically ones related to school. The huge ammounts of homework from a majority of my classes, the tests at the end of every week, the quizzes every day in my classes, and a project every week in DLC keeps my stress level extremely high. At home I have a relatively healthy diet. We rarely, if ever eat fast food or even eat out. The only time I eat unhealthily is at school because of the lunches they serve. I also have PE every day where I run a quarter mile every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; run a mile every Wednesday; and run a half mile every Friday plus all the activities we do.

Lick your Rats:

1. Explain how a high-nurturing mother rat shapes her pup's epigenome, and what that
pup's response to stress will be.

One of the jobs in the hippocampus of the brain is to relieve stress. How the pup was nurtured affects how much GR is produced (more GR is better). Cortisol, a hormone put into the blood system durnig fight or flight, binds together with the GR to send calming signals to the pup. The more the rat is nurtured by its mother, the quicker it will be able to recover from stress.

2. In rats, does licking by the mother activate, or deactivate her pup's GR gene?

The mother's licking will activate the pup's GR gene.

3. Explain how cortisol and the GR protein work together in the brain to relax a rat pup.
You may draw a diagram.

Refer to question number 1s answer.

4. The rat nurturing example shows us how parental behavior can shape the behavior of their offspring on a biochemical level. Relate this to humans and think about the personal and social implications.

Loving a child is like nurturing a rat. If a rat is nurtured and cared for, that can be the same thing as loving, praising, and teaching a child to do good in life. This shapes the way they will be when they are older. If the child had a good childhood, they will be nicer people but if not then they could turn out to be less kind.

Nutrition & The Epigenome

Explain how the food we eat affects gene expression.

"Familiar nutrients like folic acid, B vitamins and SAM-e [S-Adenosyl methionine, a popular over-the-counter supplement] are key components of this methyl-making pathway. Diets high in these methyl-donating nutrients can rapidly alter gene expression, especially during early development when the epigenome is first being established."

Can the diets of parents affect their offspring's epigenome?

Yes, the food that a mother consumes when there is a baby in the womb is very important. Food eaten when a child in a womb helps deterine how well the baby will form. The way a grand mother or grandfather ate, even in the later years of their lives greatly shortens the lifespan of the grandchildren or even the great grandchildren. Foods eaten by mothers during pregnacy will most likely be appealing flavors, tastes and smells to the child. Mothers who drank or smoke during pregnacy have a greater chance of their child living under the influince of alcahol (alcoholism) and smoking.

Epigenetics & The Human Brain

1. How does Dietary methyl influence gene expression?

The Dietary Methyl influence gene is expression when you have a certain amount of methyl that your body will retain from the nutrients in your food. This food needs to be able to make you healthy. You have a significantly higher chance of becoming obese if you have a methyl-deficient diet.

Why do Toxins affect gene methylation?

The toxins affect the gene methylation by ruining your health. Different chemicals can have different affects. Take the chemical BPA for instance. BPA can cause endocrine problems like obesity, stunted growth, and birth defects.

DNA Fingerprinting

1. DNA is unique for everyone. The only exception is if a person has what?
The only exception are identical twins because they have the exact same genes and cells.

2. What are DNA fingerprints used for?
DNA fingerprints are used to determine the parents of a child and to identify the suspect in a crime.

3. What "crime" was committed?
An unknown person broke into Jimmy Sweets room. The crime was committed on November 1, at about 8:15. Jimmy's NOVA lollipop was removed from an air-tight bag. Jimmy thinks that it is one of his sisters.

4. What bodily fluid was removed from the "crime scene" to get DNA?
Saliva was removed from the crime scene. They were able to get the saliva because the lollipop was licked.

5. What does a restriction enzyme do?
Restriction enzymes cut DNA strands. The enzymes are influenced by the code within the DNA molecule. The length of the DNA strands vary from person to person.

6. What is agarose gel?
Agarose gel is a very dense liquid when it is hot but then feels like Jello when it is cold. It acts as a strainer to sort the larger and smaller pieces of DNA.

7. What is electrophoresis?
Electrophoresis moves molecules using electric currents. The smaller molecules move faster than the larger ones. Electrophoresis is particularly useful in solving crimes because the suspects' DNA and the evidence will all move, but the ones that moved exactly the same are the match.

8. Smaller fragments of DNA move __________ than longer strands.
Smaller fragments of DNA move faster than longer strands.

9. Why do you need to place a nylon membrane over the gel?
Agarose gel is very flimsy and breakable wich makes it very difficult to work with. They nylon membrane sucks up the DNA so that it can be more easily examined.

10. Probes attach themselves to ___________?
Probes attach themselves to DNA fragments on the nylon membrane.

11. Which chemical in the virtual lab is radioactive?
Probes

12. Sketch your DNA fingerprint.




















13. Based on your DNA fingerprint, who licked the lollipop?
Honey Sweet licked the lollipop.

14. What kins of things could you do at the DNA workshop?
I was able to see the replication process in the DNA workshop. I now know how to match up base pairs as well.

Mitosis (PT 3)

View the animation and sketch the cell in:

Prophase The nucleus is in the center of the cell, and the chromosomes are in the middle of the nucleus.

Metaphase The centrioles are being pulled to the opposite sides. There are also many spindle fibers connected to the centrioles and the chromosomes are in the middle.

Telophase The chromosomes are in V shapes and the spindle fibers are connected to the centrioles.

Mitosis (PT 2)

2. The colored chromosomes represent chromatids. There are two of each color because one is an exact duplicate of the other.

--How many chromosomes are visible at the beginning of mitosis? 8

-- How many are in each daughter cell at the end of mitosis? 4

--The little green T shaped things on the cell are: centrioles

-- What happens to the centrioles during mitosis? They will divide after the DNA replicates.

3 . Identify the stages of these cells:

Metaphase Telophase Prophase

Mitosis (PT 1)

1. Which stage does the following occur

Chromatin condenses into chromosomes	Prophase
Chromosomes align in center of cell.	Metaphase
Longest part of the cell cycle.	Interphase
Nuclear envelope breaks down.	Prometaphase
Cell is cleaved into two new daughter cells.	Anaphase
Daughter chromosomes arrive at the poles.	Telophase