Saturday Genetics Quiz #23: Cloning

This week’s genetics question is:

What are the different types of cloning?

Answer:

1. DNA cloning using recombinant DNA technology

…the transfer of a DNA fragment of interest from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element such as a bacterial plasmid. The DNA of interest can then be propagated in a foreign host cell.

2. Reproductive cloning

Reproductive cloning is a technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal.

3. Therapeutic cloning

The goal of this process is not to create cloned human beings, but rather to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human development and to treat disease

For more information, see the Human Genome Project Cloning Fact Sheet and my recent post – Therapeutic Cloning Was a Fraud.