Human cloning has become an extremely popular science fiction plot, and we are already desperate to wait for it to step from the pages and screens into real life. However, in fact, we can be much closer to this than the fantastic heroes we are used to. At least from a scientific point of view. The obstacles that stand between us may have less to do with the process and more with its potential consequences and ethical warfare. Although science has come a long way in this direction in the last century, when it came to cloning a menagerie of animals, humans and primates, there were always insurmountable obstacles. We have already learned how to clone human cells. What's next?
The surprisingly complex concept of cloning comes down to a fairly simple (in theory, at least) practice: you need to take two cells from the same animal - one of them will be the egg from which you removed the DNA. You take DNA from another somatic cell and put it inside a cell that is devoid of DNA. Any offspring of this cell will be genetically identical to the parent cell. While in humans, reproduction is the result of combining two cells (one from each parent, each with its own DNA), the method of cell photocopy does take place in nature. Bacteria reproduce in a double-division process: every time a bacterium divides, its DNA also divides, so each new bacterium is genetically identical to its predecessor. Unless in the process of this some mutations occur - and even then they can be, in design and function, a survival mechanism. Such mutations allow bacteria, for example, to develop resistance to antibiotics that try to kill them. On the other hand, some mutations are fatal for the organism or do not allow it to be born at all. And while it might seem that the inherent choices for cloning can circumvent these potential genetic drawbacks, scientists have found that it is not necessary.can bypass these potential genetic disadvantages, scientists have figured out that is not necessary.can bypass these potential genetic disadvantages, scientists have figured out that is not necessary.
What do the experts say?
Although Dolly the Sheep is considered the most famous animal ever cloned by science, it is obviously not the only one of its kind: scientists have cloned mice, cats, and several species of livestock in addition to sheep. Cow cloning in recent years has provided scientists with an understanding of why they are not doing everything: from problems with implantation to the aforementioned mutations that lead to the death of offspring. Harris Levin, a professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, Davis, and his scientists published a paper on the effects of cloning on gene expression in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences back in 2016. In a press release from the study, Levin noted that the results were invaluable in improving animal cloning techniques.but their findings "also highlighted the need to strictly prohibit the cloning of humans for any purpose."
Creating whole mammals through reproductive cloning has proven challenging both practically and ethically, says Stanford University lawyer and ethicist Hank Greeley:
“I don't think anyone understood how difficult it would be to clone some species and easy to clone others. Cats are easy, dogs are difficult, mice are easy, rats are difficult, humans and other primates are very difficult."
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On the other hand, cloning of human cells may be much more applicable to humans. Scientists call this process "therapeutic" cloning, that is, cloning for therapeutic, therapeutic purposes, and distinguish it from traditional cloning, which has a reproductive background. In 2014, scientists created human stem cells using the same cloning technique with which they created Dolly the sheep. Since stem cells can be forced to become any cell in the body, they are extremely useful in the treatment of diseases - especially genetic diseases or when a patient needs another organ transplant that is often not available from a donor. This potential application is on the way: earlier this year, a woman from Japan suffering from age-related macular degeneration was treated with induced pluripotent stem cells.created from her own skin and grafted onto her retina. Her eyesight has improved.
Most of the people concerned agree that we are approaching the milestone of successful human cloning. 30% of respondents say that the first person will be cloned by 2020. What do you think?
ILYA KHEL