Hello cow fans!
Hello I am Willard Eyestone from the University of Wisconsin and this is my website which contains information of my knowledge about cloning cows.
A short introduction about me.
I am a research associate professor and I am part of the Society for the Study of Reproduction, Society for Development Biology and International Embryo Transfer Society. On 1986 Neal First, Randal Prather, and I cloned a cow from embryonic cells. Using methods very similar to those used by Willadsen on sheep, First, Prather, and I produced two cloned calves. We named them Fusion and Copy.
This diagram that I made shows the procedures of cloning a cow.
The more detailed process of cloning a cow.
- Remove an udder cell from cow X.
- Remove a DNA from an unfertilized egg.
- Fuse them together.
- (Now that there's an early embryo with a DNA donor) Inject the fused cells into the surrogate cow.
- After a full month pregnancy the surrogate female cow will give birth to the cloned cow.
The Process Of Cloning (Generally)
The most well-knowned cloning method is "somatic cell nuclear transfer" also knowned as "nuclear transfer", which requires two kinds of cell. One of the cell is a somatic cell. A somatic cell is gathered from the animal that is to be cloned, it is also knowned as the "genetic donor." A sperm cell or an egg cell is not somatic. A somatic cell contains 100% DNA, or genetic blueprint, of the animal it came from.
The other cell that is needed for cloning is an egg cell. Egg cells is collected from a female of the same species, it is also knowned as the "egg donor." Inside the lab, a scientist like myself, removes and discards the nucleus of the egg cell that is part of the cell that contains the egg donor's genes. Then a scientist will now inject the somatic cell from the genetic donor into the egg. A scientist then fuses the two with electricity. The fused egg now contains the genetic donor's DNA.
A scientist stimulates the fused egg and it "activates" the egg which causes it to divide just as an egg would if it had been fertilized by a sperm cell in conventional reproduction.The activated egg is then placed in a culture medium. Cellular division continues over several days, a blastocyst {early-stage mother} forms. After a week, an embryo transfer specialist transfers the blastocyst to a surrogate mother where it will continue to develop. After a full term pregnancy, the surrogate mother gives birth to an animal that is essentially the identical twin of the genetic donor.
Why nucleus is important
The nucleus is important because it contains DNA. Nucleus is the control center of a cell because DNA contains the "instructions" that is needed for cell reproduction. The nucleus also produces proteins that control metabolism and other cell functions.
In cloning, I would transfer the nucleus of one cell into another cell to be divided in order to create identical cells. I would take body cells and put their nucleus into an unfertilized egg cell that has had its nucleus removed. This will cause this cell to divide which can produce and develop an embryo.
Mitosis Used In Cloning
Mitosis is when a cell undergoes cell division, and makes the exact copy of itself, and all of its genetic materials is the same. That cell division results in two geneticly identical daughter cells. It is basically asexual reproduction which is good for growing. The cells that are produced are identical to the parent cell so they are essentially clones.
Mitosis is used in cloning because mitosis is when a cell makes an exact copy of itself, and all of its genetic materials is the same. When I clone, I am simply putting two sets of DNA into an egg with no DNA in it. I then let it grow in a surrogate mother. Since the egg has to divide and grow, just like a regular baby, it undergoes mitosis.
Meiosis Used In Cloning
Meiosis is cell division that result in four daughter cell each with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell. The four daughter cells are not identical because the genetic information is changed in this process. This process is called sexual reproduction, which is only performed by the sperm and egg cell and it results in making an individual.
Meiosis is is used in cloning because it creates the egg cells for the second donor.
How can cows be beneficial to humans?
Cloning cows can be beneficial to our food supply. Cloning cows would instantly increase our cow meat and diary cow products and there is a chance that the price's will lower due to a lot of sources and low demands. If the prices were to lower at supermarkets then people who have low income can afford to buy meat and cow diary products.
