Cloning!!!

[Novdid]

Read!!!

Comments?

[KvHagedorn]

If they clone me a Rebecca Romijn and a Claudia Schiffer I won't complain.

There were problems with rapid aging for other mammals that were cloned, though, weren't there? Don't remember the particulars, or even if this was some fiction I am thinking of.

[Dr Mordrid]

Rapid aging was found to be a moot issue since the biological "age clock" of the "old" cell nuclei used appears to be reset by the new cell host.

More troublesome are the presence of tumors and seizure disorders in cloned animals as they near "middle age".

Save for creating culturable lines of stem cells this is a really bad idea.

Dr. Mordrid

[Wombat]

The clock is reset? I've heard nothing about this. Do you mean that the telomeres are rebuilt, because I thought that was one of the key issues.

Also, is anyone pulling off true clones? Even Dolly the sheep wasn't one, since AFAIK nobody is using mitochondria from the source organism.

[rylan]

From what I've heard, the telomers are not rebuild in the cloned cell, which is what caused some of the problems as the cloned sheep reached mid-age. I'm not sure how this would efect cloned organs from stem cells, but at least you'd be starting with a healthy one.

[Pneumatic]

Clone me!

I need someone to mow my yard and clean the pool. Is it slavery if you are actually making yourself do the work?

[Greebe]

Clone me!

I need someone to mow my yard and clean the pool. Is it slavery if you are actually making yourself do the work?

Guess that all depends on who services the wife, Doh!

(sorry couldn't resist

[Kruzin]

Originally posted by Greebe
Guess that all depends on who services the wife, Doh!

Well, we know it won't be YOU

[James_D]

Originally posted by rylan
From what I've heard, the telomers are not rebuild in the cloned cell, which is what caused some of the problems as the cloned sheep reached mid-age. I'm not sure how this would efect cloned organs from stem cells, but at least you'd be starting with a healthy one.

The key is where they took the cell wich they cloned. The telomeres are only shortened during replication. So if the took a cell nuclei from a brown fat cell, then the telomere would only slightly affect the life expectancy. (of course they couldn't use the mitochondria from the brownfat cell). Or they could use a germcell, for ex. type A(dark) spermatocyte, wich has an inbuildt mechanism (involving telomerase) to rebuild the telomere when replicating, so it has an complete telomere.

And there has been trials with using telomerase to rebuild the telomeres lost during replication, but so far all the cell wich has been modified ended as up cancer cell.

But to the mitochondria question, here they cloned the mother of the child, so the mitochondria would be the same as in a regular fertilization, from the mother.

James

[Evildead666]

so effectively, this woman just gave birth to herself???
I know it stupid, but thats , in a strange way, what it is.
(not sure if born yet, well, yes and no...)

[Guru]

Originally posted by KvHagedorn
There were problems with rapid aging for other mammals that were cloned, though, weren't there? Don't remember the particulars, or even if this was some fiction I am thinking of.

Starwars 2!

[Technoid]

according to the article the company that claims that they have "cloned" a person seems to be a bunch of raving lunatics

Much more interesting is the reasearch about stemcells and the posibility of making "spare parts" to use a blunt word...

Imagine beign cured from leukemia by a pill

[James_D]

Originally posted by Technoid
according to the article the company that claims that they have "cloned" a person seems to be a bunch of raving lunatics

well if it's true, something I DOUBT!!!! then it's a sad day for science. And I hope that the rest of the countries that have not signed a ban against cloning will do so quickly.



JAMES.

[James_D]

A little comment...

The DNA was taken from Skin cells. That makes a couple of possibilities. But the normal Kerationcyte will have undergone extensive mitotic divitions, and thereby also an shortening of the telomere regions. But since the life expectancy for a normal human being is around 80 years (+- 20, given where you live!)
and asuming that the Mother is between 20-40 years. The shortened telomeres would not prove to great an hinder for normal development.

But there are also other cells in the skin, wich can be much more promesing. The Melanocyte, (provide melanin to the Keratinocyte giving the pigment of the skin. Melanin also has shown quiet a few interesting properties: like Semiconducting properties http://www.drproctor.com/os/amorphous.htm ) is Neural crest(Ectoderm layer) derived, and has undergone very few mitotic divitons. and is a more likely candidate for doing cloning.

The telomeres for a sheep (eg Dolly ) is much shorter than for a Human, and also have a much shorter life expectancy. (I don't know but think it's around 20 years.)

But what's interesting is the method they have used for the reactivation of the DNA.

And also there are some scientist that claim that during blastocyst formation (early embryonic stage, before implantation.) there are an active form of telomerase, wich will rebuild the telomere regions.


James.

[James_D]

Originally posted by Technoid
according to the article the company that claims that they have "cloned" a person seems to be a bunch of raving lunatics

Much more interesting is the reasearch about stemcells and the posibility of making "spare parts" to use a blunt word...

Imagine beign cured from leukemia by a pill

Well the CRAZY group also plans to use the cloned bodies as vessels, so that they can transfer the brain, from an old body to a new body, thereby achieving eternal life (CRAP IN MY opinion, you have so extensive neurodegeneration, that they brain would stop working when reaching, 150 years. (Ever seen the lateral ventricles in a OLD PERSON? man they are big, not much wit left there... )

James.