This deep dive covers Animal Cloning — Adult Cell Cloning (Higher) within Cloning for GCSE Biology. Cloning techniques, applications, and ethical considerations It is section 3 of 12 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Animal Cloning — Adult Cell Cloning (Higher)
Dolly the Sheep (1996):
- Nucleus removed from body cell of adult sheep (donor)
- Egg cell has its nucleus removed (enucleated)
- Donor nucleus inserted into egg cell
- Electric shock stimulates egg to divide
- Embryo implanted into surrogate mother
- Clone is born — genetically identical to donor
Practice questions for Cloning
What is the name of the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell?
What is the process called when a plant is grown from a cutting?
Quick recall flashcards
What is a clone?
A genetically identical copy of an organism. Clones have exactly the same DNA as their parent. Cloning occurs naturally (e.g. identical twins, bacterial reproduction) and can be done artificially in plants and animals.
What was significant about Dolly the sheep?
Dolly (born 1996) was the first mammal cloned from an adult (somatic) cell. This proved that a specialised adult cell could be reprogrammed to create a whole organism — previously scientists thought adult cells had permanently 'switched off' the genes not needed for their function.