Re: Can a specific cell from an animal be cloned?

In general the answer is no, the exception being embryonic stem cells which are not yet differentiated. For some animals, embryo cells can be separated and under the proper conditions produce identical offspring. Usually the proper conditions are that the cells be put into a surrogate mother and go through the normal process of gestation. Laboratory conditions for this complicated process (gestation) have not been worked out.

For plants, however, cells can be taken from differentiated parts of the plant and induced to dedifferentiate, that is, go back to the embryonic state called totipotency or omnipotency. This means that any cell still has the potential to develop into any kind of cell or tissue, thus, potentially a whole plant. This is done in the laboratory by changing the concentrations and combinations of plant hormones in the growth medium. For animals, once cells go beyond the early embryonic state they are committed to a certain path, tissue, or organ and cannot become anything else. The genes to do anything else are permanently turned off.