Animal cloning is perhaps one of the greatest achievements of humanity in the age of technology. Animal cloning involves the production of copies of animals. The clones produced are genetically identical but may not necessarily appear physically similar to their parents. Animal cloning, however, entails more than just producing copies of animals.
Animal Cloning Overview
Animal cloning refers to the processes carried out in the production of genetically identical copies of an animal ( Wong, 2018) . The material copied from the parent animal has a similar genetic makeup as the original and is what is referred to as a clone. Animal cloning involves the removal of a mature body cell from the animal to be copied. The DNA in the body cell, somatic cell, is then transferred into an egg cell whose nucleus has been removed. Sometimes an electric current is used to fuse the extracted body cell with the nuclear-less egg. The egg then develops in a test tube and is later implanted into the uterus of an adult female animal of the same species. The surrogate mother then gives birth to an animal with a similar genetic makeup as that of its parent or the animal from whom the body cell was extracted.
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Big names in Animal Cloning
One big name in the Animal Cloning industry is John Sperling, an American Billionaire. Sperling has spent a lot of money on several companies, some of which he owns, which create genetically modified and cloned animals. His attempt to clone a pet dog in 2001 led to the establishment of a big cloning company, Genetic Savings and Clone, from which ViaGen, one of his companies, emerged. Genetic Savings and Clone, which closed in 2006, sold a cloned cat to a woman for fifty thousand US Dollars in 2004. ViaGen, up to date, conducts genetic preservation for animals at specific fees and also carries out animal cloning ( Wong, 2018) .
The objective of Animal Cloning
Scientists involved in animal cloning, among other things, are trying to give people the opportunity to continue being with their favorite pets and animals even after they die. Scientists are also trying to improve the fields of medicine and agriculture through qualitative cloning and gene modification. One of the major objectives of animal cloning is to save the endangered animal species from extinction ( Selokar et al., 2019) . Also, desired animal qualities can be preserved and produced in clones.
Milestones in Animal Cloning
The idea of animal cloning or cloning itself was conceived and put to the test almost a century ago. However, the first-ever animal to be successfully cloned from a mature body from an adult animal was Dolly, the sheep. This came through in 1996, and the sheep lived normally and reproduced just like other sheep ( Wong, 2018) . In 1998, Japanese researchers were successful in producing four cloned calves from a single cow. Since then, other animals such as cats, dogs, mule, rabbits, rats, and horses, among others, have been cloned.
The ultimate goal in Animal Cloning
The ultimate goal of animal cloning is to contribute to the fields of agriculture and medicine positively. In 2008 the Food and Drug Administration declared the meat from cloned animals as safe for consumption just like those from regular animals. Copies of animals with desirable agricultural qualities such as high milk production can thus be made. Cloned animals can be genetically modified to contain or produce substances critical for various human body processes such as blood clotting ( Ibtisham et al., 2017) .
Animal cloning presents as a significant technological achievement and a field of science with the capacity to offer a lot the world. In a world where the population is continually growing, there is a need to make available more food. Cloning presents the opportunity to produce more high-quality and healthy animals used as food sources such as sheep and goats. With more research and the right technology, animal cloning can hugely impact the fields of agriculture and medicine.
References
Wong, D. W. (2018). Animal Cloning. In The ABCs of Gene Cloning (pp. 213-217). Springer, Cham.
Selokar, N. L., Saini, M., Kumar, D., Sharma, R. K., & Yadav, P. S. (2019). 10 years after the birth of India’s first cloned farm animal, where is buffalo cloning heading.
Ibtisham, F., Qadir, M. F., Xiao, M., &An, L. (2017). Animal cloning applications and issues. Russian Journal of genetics , 53 (9), 965-971.
