Mouse cloned in Japan

[Kirk]

News of a mouse cloned in Japan has been been one of the latest subjects amongst science enthusiasts recently.

Scientists in Japan have cloned a mouse from a single drop of blood. Circulating blood cells collected from the tail of a donor mouse were used to produce the clone, a team at the Riken BioResource Center reports in the journal Biology of Reproduction.

The female mouse lived a normal lifespan and could give birth to young, say the researchers. Scientists at a linked institute recently created nearly 600 exact genetic copies of one mouse.

Mice have been cloned from several different sources of donor cells, including white blood cells found in the lymph nodes, bone marrow and liver. The Japanese research group investigated whether circulating blood cells could also be used for cloning. Their aim was to find an easily available source of donor cells to clone scientifically valuable strains of laboratory mice.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23068423


It's quite interesting, and makes you wonder how far science has come and will continue to go in the not-to-distance future.

Do you think cloning will ever become a part of every day life, perhaps even to "preserve" life? Do you believe that cloning is not ethical?

 

[Tommy]

I think that cloning is the last thing scientists should be worrying about while on this plant, but at the same time it's quite amusing and very interesting.

 

[mg2prime]

It's bad. Very bad, they're gonna eventually clone humans and the clones are gonna be from the most fit, well rounded intelligient individuals so they use them for military might. THEN the clones gonna turn on the originals then it's gonna be a all out war.

 

[shylambert]

It's quite interesting. However, I strongly believe that cloning a whole human would be unethical. I just hope that in the future cloning can help in manufacturing food and also to extend life like cloning parts of human body (not the whole human). I just wish that scientist would be ethical in their experiments.

 

[lauren]

I think cloning of a human would be great if someone volunteered and the clone should be treated as a separate human being because they are, however, I'm not too keen on the idea honestly and it's probably best they stick to cloning animals only for now.

 

[bsge11]

It's a pretty impressive accomplishment, but truth be told, I'm not really for cloning. It doesn't matter if it's an animal or plant or something living, it just seems unethical. And I think they should stop these types of experiments on animals and such. They still are living creatures are they not. I'm sure somewhere down the line certain things can be accomplished to save human lives without having to use cloning.