Cloning in Animals

Embryo Transplants

Animals can be cloned using embryo transplants. In this process, the animals are cloned naturally, using sexual reproduction. Below is the process for embryo transplants.

1. Egg cells from an animal with desirable traits are artificially fertilised with sperm cells from an animal with desirable traits.

2. Then, the egg is left to develop into an early-stage embryo.

3. The early-stage embryo is split into many smaller cells before the cells become specialised.

4. This forms many identical embryos, which are transplanted into host mothers, where the embryos will grow and develop.

5. The host mothers will give birth to identical offspring, which are clones of each other.

Animal cloning often takes place to breed superior characteristics. To achieve this, embryo cloning isn’t preferable. The process begins with a sperm and an egg, which means there are no guarantees that the offspring will exhibit these traits.

Adult-Cell Cloning

The first mammal to be cloned was a sheep called Dolly, in 1996, using adult-cell cloning. An advantage of adult-cell cloning is that we are able to clone animals with desirable traits.

The process of adult-cell cloning:

1. Remove a cell (e.g. a skin cell) from the adult animal.

2. Separate the nucleus from the cell (which contains the genetic information of the cloned animal).

3. Take an unfertilised egg cell from an adult female of the same species and remove the nucleus.

4. Take the nucleus from the original adult cell and insert it into the egg cell.

  • Once we insert the nucleus from the original adult cell into the unfertilised egg, this egg cell will only have the genetic information of the animal we want to clone.

6. Give the egg cell a small electric shock, which will stimulate it to divide by mitosis, forming an embryo.

7. Insert the embryo into a surrogate mother to continue development.

8. When the animal is carried to term, the host mother will give birth to a clone that is genetically identical to the original adult animal.