Cloning and concerns about it

Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in bio- technology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments (molecular cloning), cells (cell clon- ing), or organisms.

Molecular cloning refers to the process of mak- ing multiple molecules. It is used in a wide array of

biological experiments and practical applications rang- ing from genetic fingerprinting to large scale protein production.

Cloning of any DNA fragment essentially in- volves four steps. First is fragmentation - breaking apart a strand of DNA; second is ligation - gluing to- gether pieces of DNA in a desired sequence; third is transfection - inserting the newly formed pieces of DNA into cells and the last is screening or selection - selecting out the cells that were successfully trans- fected with the new DNA. Cloning a cell means to de- rive a population of cells from a single cell. In the case of unicellular organisms such as bacteria and yeast, this process is remarkably simple and essentially only requires the inoculation of the appropriate medium. However, in the case of cell cultures from multicellu- lar organisms, cell cloning is an arduous task as these cells will not readily grow in standard media.

Organism cloning (also called reproductive clon- ing) refers to the procedure of creating a new multicel- lular organism, genetically identical to another. In es- sence this form of cloning is an asexual method of re- production, where fertilization or inter-gamete contact does not take place. Asexual reproduction is a natu- rally occurring phenomenon in many species, includ- ing most plants (vegetative reproduction) and some insects. Scientists have made some major achieve- ments with cloning, including the asexual reproduc- tion of sheep and cows.

There is a lot of ethical debate over whether or not cloning should be used. However, in the United

States, the human consumption of meat and other products from cloned animals was approved by the FDA (The Food and Drug Administration) on Decem- ber 28, 2006, with no special labeling required. Cloned beef and other products have since been regu- larly consumed in the US without distinction.

Because of recent technological advancements, the cloning of animals (and potentially humans) has been an issue. The Catholic Church and many reli- gious organizations oppose all forms of cloning, on the grounds that life begins at conception. They con- cern about the protection of the identity of the individ-

 

 

asexual reproduction biological blueprint break apart (v) concern consumption counterpart

derive (v) fertilization fragment (v) fragmentation

Vocabulary

large scale ligation

multicellular organism non-coding sequence occur (v)

oppose (v) premature protect (v) randomly resemble (v)

ual and the right to protect one's genetic identity.

Another concern is that the biotechnologies used on animals may someday be used on humans. Re- searchers have found several abnormalities in cloned organisms, particularly in mice. The cloned organism may be born normal and resemble its non-cloned counterpart, but majority of the time will express

genetic fingerprinting glue (v)

identical inoculation insert (v)

inter-gamete contact

result (v) strand transfect (v) transfection

unicellular organism

changes in its genome later on in life. The concern with cloning humans is that the changes in genomes may not only result in changes in appearance, but in psychological and personality changes as well. The theory behind this is that the biological blueprint of the genes is the same in cloned animals as it is in nor- mal ones, but they are read and expressed incorrectly. Results of these abnormally expressed genes in the cloned mice were premature death, pneumonia, liver failure and obesity.

2. Translate into English.

1) Большой масштаб в изучении клонирова- нии человека будет достигнут в будущем.

2) Клонирование широко распространено в природе у различных организмов.

3) Молекулярное клонирование занимается молекулами ДНК, их частями и даже отдельны- ми генами.

4) Принимай это лекарство регулярно, оно

защитит тебя от рецидива болезни.

5) По мере того как молекулярная цепь удли- няете, меняются и свойства веществ, состоящих из

этих молекул.

6) В книге профессора В.М. Беликова «Пища будущего» затрагивается вопрос потребления мяса и этики отношения к животным.

7) Фрагменты ДНК будут разрезаны в слу- чайных местах.

8) ДНК представляет собой несколько цепо- чек, состоящих из нуклеотидов.

9) Маша не просто похожа на маму, она во- обще ее копия!

10) Во время трансфекции генетическая ин- формация переносится в эукариотические клетки с помощью очищенной ДНК.

11) Нить ДНК состоит из фрагментов и раз- рывается на части при процессе размножении.

12) Бесполое размножение защищает орга- низм от введения другой биологической програм- мы.

 

3. Fill in the gaps in these sentences according to the text you`ve read:

1) Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of,, or

.

2) Cloning is commonly used to amplify DNA fragments containing whole.

3) In the case of unicellular organisms such as bacteria and yeast, this process is remarkably simple and essentially only requiresof the appro- priate medium.

4) Organism cloning refers to the procedure of

creating a new, genetically identical to another.

5) is a naturally occurring phenome- non in many species, including most plants and some insects.

6) Researchers have found several abnormalities in, particularly in mice.

 

4. a) Make sentences in Russian with the words from vocabulary and give them to your partner to translate into English.

b) Put these ideas in the order as they were given in the text.

· Religious organizations oppose cloning

· There are 3 types of cloning

· Diseases caused by cloning

· Cloning produces similar populations or iden- tical individuals

· Organism cloning creates new multicellular organism asexually

· Multiple molecules can be made by molecular cloning

· Cloned meat have been consumed in the US without distinction

· Cell cloning derives a population of cells from a single cell

 

text.

5. a) Make 10 questions covering the gist of the

b) Retell the text from the point of view of:

· Scientist

· Cloned meat producer

· Religious official

or worms is that human genes work differently, are capable of multitasking, and we have more control genes.

✓ Most mutations occur in males.

✓ In each of our cells, there are six feet of DNA packed into a chromosome only 0.0004 inches across.

✓ Lining up all of the DNA in the human body, it

would reach to the sun and back more than 600 times.

Add your reasons pro or contra cloning.

6. Read interesting facts about cloning, discuss them and find your own.

Did you know…?

✓ Dolly the cloned sheep was named after coun- try singer Dolly Parton, because she started life as a mammary cell.

✓ We leave our DNA around all the time, eve- rywhere: on the door, on the table, on the keyboard… For the moment we couldn’t clone from it, but hey, perhaps later we may be able to clone you from the

tiny bits of DNA you leave about!

✓ Humans have far fewer genes than expected at 35,000 to 42,000, compared to the nematode worm

with 18,000 and the fruit fly with 13,000. However, scientists say we may still have more – we don’t know the whole genome set yet and we may have missed some genes.

✓ The difference between humans and fruit flies

✓ The information would fill 200 500-page tele- phone directories.

✓ Our DNA is 99.9% identical to all other mem- bers of the human race.

 

7. Talk with your partner(s) about cloning the people / animals in the table. What are the pros and cons of each? Change partners and share your ideas.

dogs to sniff out drugs at airports

yourself

super-intelligent scientists

expert soldiers

cows that produce lots of milk

world class sports stars

very kind voluntary workers

endangered species

 

8. Study the Complex Subject. Open the brackets and use the Complex Subject.

Example: He is thought (study) now. — He is thought to be studying now.

1) He is considered (be) a good musician. 2) They are thought (go away) some days ago. 3) James

is expected (make) a report next Wednesday. 4) Steve is known (help) them to solve a problem when they were in trouble. 5) Mozart is known (compose) a lot of wonderful pieces of music. 6) The film is considered (be) the worst of the year. 7) She is supposed (work) in the laboratory from 2 to 6 p.m. tomorrow. 8) They are known (make) a new discovery a month ago. 9) He is expected (manage) the business himself. 10) He is said (be) at the customs office now.

 

9. Translate into English using the Complex Subject.

1) Стивен обязательно выиграет эту игру. 2) Известно, что Питер уехал в Осло. 3) Предполага- ют, что президент выступит на конференции. 4) Эту пьесу считают самой интересной в театре. 5) Кажется, она готовит яблочный пирог (applepie). Пахнет очень вкусно. 6) Боб, наверное, нам помо- жет. — Он наверняка нам поможет. 7) Полагают, что они уехали вчера. 8) По-видимому, перегово- ры (talks) закончатся завтра. 9) Полагают, что эта работа была выполнена успешно. 10) Вряд ли этот факт имеет большое значение (be of great impor- tance). 11) Это, вероятно, случится, если ветер не переменится. 12) Говорят, что делегаты на кон- ференцию уже приехали. 13) Известно, что этот комитет был создан несколько лет тому назад. 14) Он, по-видимому, пишет новую книгу. 15) Пред- полагают, что они смогут решить этот вопрос тот-

час же. 16) Известно, что Джек Лондон написал много прекрасных книг.

 

10. Read the following text and translate it.

Human cloning

Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of an existing or previously existing human. There are two commonly discussed types of human cloning: therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning involves cloning cells

from an adult for use in medicine and is an active area of research. Repro- ductive cloning would in- volve making cloned hu- man beings. Such repro- ductive cloning has not been performed and is il- legal in many countries. A third type of cloning called replacement cloning. It is a

theoretical possibility, and would be a combination of therapeutic and reproductive cloning. Replacement cloning would entail the replacement of an extensively damaged, failed, or failing body through cloning fol- lowed by whole or partial brain transplant.

Some people and groups oppose therapeutic clon- ing, but most scientific, governmental and religious organizations oppose reproductive cloning. Many sci- entific organizations have made public statements suggesting that human reproductive cloning be banned

until safety issues are resolved. Serious ethical con- cerns have been raised by the idea that it might be possible in the future to harvest organs from clones. Some people have considered the idea of growing or- gans separately from a human organism - in doing this, a new organ supply could be established without the moral implications of harvesting them from hu- mans.

The first human hybrid human clone was created in November 1998, by American Cell Technologies. It was created from a man's leg cell, and a cow's egg whose DNA was removed. It was destroyed after 12 days.

On January, 2008, Wood and Andrew French, Stemagen's chief scientific officer in California, an- nounced that they successfully created the first 5 ma- ture human embryos using DNA from adult skin cells, aiming to provide a source of viable embryonic stem cells. It is not clear if the embryos produced would have been capable of further development, but Dr. Wood stated that if that were possible, using the tech- nology for reproductive cloning would be both unethi- cal and illegal. Thus, the 5 cloned embryos were de- stroyed.

 

11. Write the gist of the text in about 10 sen- tences. Then enlarge it with your own information concerning cloning.

12. Talk about the following questions in pairs/groups. Remember to support your answers!

1) In your opinion will reproductive cloning be le- gal in future?

2) Grandpa just died. Would you consider cloning him? Why/ not?

3) What do you think will happen in 10 years re- garding cloning? 25 years? 100 years?

4) What do you think about the whole business of cloning? Will it be possible and profitable in future?

5) Would you like to have a cloned version of yourself? For spare part of just to have a brother/ friend?

13. Write a magazine article about two people - one is the clone of the other. Include imaginary inter- views with them.

Optional activity: take an interview from two (three) clones.

14. Translate an abstract.

Проблема клонирования связана с потенци- альными рисками для здоровья будущего клона, в частности, возможность его преждевременного старения. Известный ученый Алексей Оловников еще в 1971 году обратил внимание на проблему укорачивания хромосом в клетках в результате де- лений. Ученый предположил, что укорачивание хромосом не может идти вечно – в какой-то мо- мент клетка состарится и потеряет способность делиться. Но почему наши хромосомы не короче

хромосом наших предков? Оказалось, что на кон- цах хромосом есть специальные участки – теломе- ры. При удвоении хромосом эти участки действи- тельно укорачиваются, однако специальный фер- мент – теломераза, активный в некоторых клетках (например, в стволовых), может достраивать тело- меры до исходного размера. Получается, что при наличии фермента теломеразы клетки способны делиться без особых ограничений, не «стареть». Отсутствие теломеразы в большинстве клеток яв- ляется одним из защитных механизмов от некон- тролируемого деления, то есть рака.

 

16. Write a letter to a scientist involved in clon- ing. Give him/her three pieces of advice on what (s) he should do to make sure cloning is safe. Ask him/her three questions about cloning. Read your letter to your partner(s). Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

17. You have a clone. Your clone is 13 years old. Write your diary entry for one day you spent with him/her. Include the conversations you had and the advice you gave him/her.

18. Do we have a right to clone dead people? What if they didn’t want to be cloned? Make a report/ essay on this topic.

19. Study the example of the official letter. Make a conclusion about the rules of letter writing.

 

Nikolay Petrov

34 Pushkinskayast., Apt.16

Izhevsk 426000 Udmurtia, Russia

25 April, 2009 Malcolm Anderson, ScD

25 North Road, Apt. 5

London W2 4RH England

 

Dear Mr. Anderson,

The purpose of this letter is to follow up on the discussion we had in your office last week. This letter details the steps we discussed to make your project a reality.

Since my letter of December 10, there has been a number of changing circumstances that necessitate different approach is used to develop the project. Would it be possible to meet you either in Moscow or St. Petersburg to discuss this further?

I look forward to working with you on this pro-

ject.

Sincerely yours, Petrov Nikolay.

 

20. Write your own formal (official) letter.

On July, 10 you discussed and made a draft of a document about the problems of cloning ethics with

your colleague David Bellmore from Brookline Uni- versity. Since that time you have made some correc- tions and changes in the document. Inform about it your colleague and suggest the date of new meeting.

 

21. Role Play Game.

You are in 2102 on the debates “Should we legalize cloning?” Choose a role for yourself and prepare to speak from the part of it.

A person who has a clone: I like my clone because he is both my friend and a guarantee against hard dis- eases. Moreover,…

His clone: I like my counterpart because…

An unsatisfied clone: I want to be a human because… A doctor: Clones may have constant pain and suffer- ing. They grow quicker, so…

A psychologist: Clones may have psychological prob- lems, for example, the absence of parent can cause de- pression…

A priest: Life begins at conception…

A person who wants to have a clone because…

A businessman: It’s great business now because…