All About Cloning

Biological cloning is the process of creating a genetically identical copy of another living being, be it human, plant, or animal. Clones can occur both naturally and unnaturally through advances in technology. Clones occur naturally during the asexual reproduction of some organisms and unicellular micro-organisms, or when two genetically identical individuals are produced accidentally, as when two identical twins develop from one single fertilized egg.

Unnaturally occurring genetic animal cloning has been a highly scrutinized and controversial issue around the world since the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

Genetic cloning occurs when a body cell is taken from an embryo in an early stage of development. The nucleus is then transferred to an unfertilized ovum from which the nucleus has been removed. The daughter cells from the earliest divisions are removed, and grown in culture or implanted into host mothers. Genetically identical offspring to that from which the original cell was taken is then produced. Access additional information on cloning below, including the very latest cloning news, information on human cloning, animal cloning, the on-going fight for and against cloning, cloning ethics and more.