primate cloning

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spuriousmonkey

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My apologies if it has been posted before, but then I must have missed it. But one of the more interesting stories lately in 'Science' was about primate cloning and the possibility that cloning in primate species might be impossible right now and in the immediate future.

Everybody might be aware that so far it has been impossible to clone any primate despite huge effors to do so. Now they discovered that something is totally messing up with cell division in cloned primate cells. The mitotic spindles are all wrong and the chromosomes are misaligned. Nuclear transfer seems to interfer with the Nuclear-Mitotic apparatus (some important proteins). These proteins are removed when the nucleus is removed from the egg to make place for the new nucleus. Apparently in other cells these proteins are usually scattered at this stage and hence these proteins remain in these eggs. In primates the all important proteins are removed with the nucleus.

I realize now that my translation of the story is probably more confusing than the original.

science vol 300 p 297
 
Ya I read about that, I think you did a good job interpreting it :)
Basically in primates our mitotic spindles remain from the transfused nucleus and mess up the mitotic spindles in the host cell produce failed cell division and death. This problems does not mean primate cloning is impossible but does make another technical hurdle for us. Even so this goes against claims (legitimate claims not those Realians) that human clones have been made and grow to up to the most earliest embryonic stages (before 15 days of development), for the purposes of developing therapeutic cloning of course.
 
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WCF, You might think I don't like any of your posts but this one i enjoyed.

And if I may add something, the technical hurdle might also give us some well needed extra time to come to grips with human cloning and the possible effects on our society. Maybe we will get used to the idea and won't be so shocked anymore once it really starts becoming reality.

That said, there still seem to be other technical problems with cloning, for instance some researchers have noticed that some genes that are supposed to switch on, just won't do what they are supposed to do. Although early development is quite flexible to a degree it is a major problem, because cloning could just be a lottery, with nothing but bad prices to win.
 
Anyways ya there are a lots of problems with cloning now most of which within are present understanding but many still beyond at technological abilities to solve.
 
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