Genetic Engineering for Livestock Producers

Animal cloning started without the world even knowing. First, an animal clone is “an exact physical copy of one ‘parent’” (Newman 12). “Animal cloning experiments began in the 1960’s. Frogs were the first subjects. By 1987 scientists had begun cloning cows and other mammals” (Newman 12). Dolly the sheep was the first big cloning success, credited to Ian Wilmut in 1996 (Praded 21). This sheep was a scientific breakthrough, but it also caused many people to question the intents of scientists. Many people wondered if scientists would clone humans next. The original intent of animal cloning was not for the food industry. The reason animal cloning started was to find a way to help cure currently untreatable diseases (“Why Do Scientists Clone?”). By cloning cells, scientists will be able to manipulate the cells to become something new.

The first equine wasn't cloned until 2003. However, the first organism was cloned in 1928. Hans Spemann was the first person to create a clone, he cloned a frog. The most well known clone may have been Dolly the sheep. Dolly was born in 1996, that was the year cloning became more popular. (Bell Clone Age)

There are two methods of cloning: embryo splitting and nuclear transfer. Embryo splitting involves egg cells being removed from the female donor, which are then fertilised in a laboratory with sperm from a male by

(2014). Factors Affecting the Development of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Embryos in Cattle. Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4219988/

As scientists are experimenting with many methods of gene selection, the livestock industry are relying more on genetic selection. Genetic selection allow the farmers to produce the most fertile and efficient livestock. There are many impacts of genetic selection. Genetic selection allows the farmers to genetically modify the breed of the livestock to that mass production can occur to fulfill the need of consumers. With genetic selection the quantity and quality of meat and dairy production has been increased. I was not familiar with the technique of artificial insemination for reproduction biology until I took this class. I learned that artificial insemination is also a technique of genetic selection which allows the scientist to decide what kind of livestock they want. Also, to improve in fur quality of animal, the genetic selection is in used. With genetic selection, scientist can now improve the production rate of cattle. Genetic selection can also improve the physical characteristics of the livestock. To keep up with the world’s need in beef and dairy production genetic selections have a huge impact. Nowadays, the agriculture industries have been vastly improved because of the advancement in the genetic selections. Genetic selections also allow the farmer to modify animal more for either meat or dairy production. For example, Boer goat has been genetically modified to gain

This is not the first time that scientists have used this method to clone animals.. The first animal to ever have been cloned was Dolly the sheep.

An example of reproductive cloning is Dolly the sheep. She was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, which is much more difficult to clone from. She lived to be only 6 years old due to arthritis. They took an udder cell from a six year old Finn Dorset white sheep. They changed the growth medium to keep the udder cell alive but it stopped them from expanding. According to the article “Cloning Dolly The Sheep”,they injected the cell into an unfertilised egg cell and made the cells fuse by using electrical pulses. Therefore, they moved the DNA of the donor animal's

Typically, when farmers desire a particular trait in animals, they selectively breed the animals. Unfortunately, selective breeding is not always the best method to use. Due to farmers having no control over which genes present themselves, what was intended to bring out a favorable trait in an animal, can end up bringing out a harmful trait. Selective breeding is time consuming, as well, for it could take generations until the particular trait shows itself. If animal cloning was to replace selective breeding, farmers would have more control over an animal’s genes and be able to get the traits they want. This also applies for productivity in livestock. Selectively breeding the animals to be the most productive does not always work out, but animal cloning can guarantee it.

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer is the most commonly used method for cloning. The process of this method consists of having the nucleus removed from the unfertilized egg and then replacing it with the new material from the somatic cell's nucleus. Once all of that is done, then the cell must be stimulated in order to divide (Dinç 239). With the success rate of a tenth percent to three percent, it is obvious that this method is unreliable ("What are the Risk" par. 3). Clearly with the amount of failures and percent of success rate, scientists are not familiar enough with the concept and difficulty of clinging, so it should just be left alone. Cloning is a risky and dangerous act that should no longer be attempted.

This method is the first one, which was effective in mammals. This technique chose the gene construct from another member of the same or different species. It involves the direct microinjection of this gene construct into the pronucleus of a fertilized ovum. New

As per the publication in Basic Science Partnership, although experiments on cloning of plants and bacteria have been carried on for decades, the major breakthrough in science was the birth of Dolly the sheep, on July 05, 1996, after which many other animals were cloned, including cows and even mice. In 1997 two Rhesus monkeys were cloned from the 8-cell stage in a laboratory of Don Wolf at Oregon Regional Primate Research Centre and in the same year President Clinton signed a five-year ban to use federal funds for human cloning. (Web)

The process begins with a somatic cell, which is collected from the animal that is to be cloned (known as the genetic donor). A somatic cell is any cell other than a sperm cell or egg cell, and contains the complete DNA of the animal it came from. This donor cell are taken and cultured in a low nutrient media for a week. The nutrient deprived cells stop diving and become dormant. After collecting the nucleus from the donor cell, the other kind of cell required for cloning is an egg cell, which is collected from a female of the same species (known as the egg

We also learned in lecture about how Dolly, the first cloned sheep, was created. First, two sheep were chosen and one was the mammary cell donor and the other was the egg cell donor. The nucleus was removed from the egg cell and then the mammary cell and the egg cell were fused, making the nucleus from the mammary cell enter the egg cell. Finally, the cell grew and developed into an early embryo and was placed unto the uterus of a third sheep, creating Dolly. It was found that mammals can be cloned by transplanting the nuclei of adult cells and this ties into how scientists are using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer (Baker 2014). This nucleus transfer technique can be the solution to the high number of patients waiting for a donor organ because a personal organ can be provided for them. Although it solves many problems dealing with shortages of organs and lack of functional tissue, there are many negative aspects including the death of the created embryo, other diseases possibly arising in the aided body, and the high cost of the process.

The first step in the somatic cell nuclear transfer is that a body (somatic) cell is removed from a donor. The nucleus is extracted from the cell as it contains the vital DNA required for the cloning and everything except the nucleus is discarded. With Dolly, the body (somatic) cell was extracted from a Finn Dorset ewe’s udder. The extracted cell was then placed in a culture that contained an extremely small concentration of nutrients. This will cause the cell to stop multiplying and to turn off their active genes by starving it.

Among the millions of species that inhabit the planet, only twenty species provide ninety percent of the human food supply (Montgomery 2000). Since the introduction of genetic engineering, however, livestock and crops have a more productive future. Transfer of engineered genes from organism to organism occurs through hybridization, conjugation, and transformation in microorganisms. By the substitution of genes into agricultural species, biodiversity can flourish to improve social and economic development. Although methods of gene and DNA implantation quickly develop advanced products, even precise genetic alterations do not ensure that the environment will remain balanced or that changes in