MadSci Network: Cell Biology |
Hi Arthur,
Well, these question are seen on the internet a lot these days. There are even 'companies' that offer
tailor-made clones. Of course it's fake, but if you like, have a look at e.g. Dreamtech.
Back to the question. The folks in the UK used a live nucleus in a living cell to
transplant. All of the nuclei in cells in dear Albert Einstein are dead and gone,
and therefore, their way of cloning is out of the picture.
Of course some of Albert's hairs are still around and they may contain DNA.
However, to extract all his DNA, without inducing small errors, in the
correct order and then clone it in a denucleated human egg is practically
impossible. If you want to know why, have a look at the Human Genome Program.
Many scientists all over the world spend many years to just sequence (part of)
the human DNA. And while doing so they introduced small errors, which are
nowadays inevitable.
So the answer to your question is NO. However, if someone has died just a few
hours, many of the cells are still alive and may be collected for nucleus
transplants (=cloning).
Interesting links:
NATURE, featuring the original paper
New Scientist special Report
Yahoo's cloning section
Regards,
Rolf
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