Dolly the Sheep Alive Again 233
SpeZek writes "Dolly the sheep has been reborn. Four clones have been made by the scientist behind the original research.
The quads, which have been nicknamed 'the Dollies,' are exact genetic copies of their predecessor, who was put down seven years ago.
The latest experiments were partly carried out to check if improvements to the technique cut the risk of problems in and out of the womb.
Named after country and western singer Dolly Parton, Dolly was created from a cell taken from a mammary gland. The rest of the sample of tissue has lain in a freezer since, until it was defrosted to make the Dollies."
Just in time for christmas .... (Score:5, Funny)
Pass the mint jelly :-)
Re:Just in time for christmas .... (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know, it is never as good after that. But still, with enough jelly...
Dolly Parton (Score:2, Interesting)
Okay, is my mind totally in the gutter, or is there a significance to the mammary gland / Dolly Parton link?
Re:Dolly Parton (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, as Dolly Parton is known for her rather... large mammaries.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1217&bih=766&q=dolly+parton&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= [google.com]
Re:Dolly Parton (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dolly Parton (Score:5, Funny)
Well this news is simply TITillating!
Re:Dolly Parton (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dolly Parton (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dolly Parton (Score:5, Funny)
Are we only going to here that nice pair of jokes
You could say this thread is a bust.
Re:Dolly Parton (Score:5, Funny)
The whole thing went tits up!
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We heard an udder one!!!
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Guys, this isn't Reddit.
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Stay classy /.
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Ewe must be knew here.
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(Breast != MammaryGlands); (Score:3)
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No, its is exactly what you are thinking.
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Okay, is my mind totally in the gutter, or is there a significance to the mammary gland / Dolly Parton link?
Well, if it helps, the meadow where they graze is called the Valley of the Dolls....
(If you were a New Zealander, the mere mention of sheep would have been enough....)
Re:Dolly Parton (Score:5, Funny)
Dolly is the new teacup? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm curious to know if Dolly will be the new teacup (used to test rendering algorithms) or Lenna (for image processing).
Will we be cloning the same sheep over and over again as a common reference?
REINCARNATION DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY! (Score:4, Funny)
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Duh, they'd have to be cows, not sheep.
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"caps lock is cruise control for being cool."
Not alive again (Score:4, Insightful)
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I would call them Dolly's daughters, since they were cloned off of Dolly, not the original sheep. This is consistent with my understanding of the nomenclature used for species that reproduce asexually. They're each other's sisters, and the original sheep's granddaughters.
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Oops. You're right. I misread the article.
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Re:Not alive again (Score:5, Insightful)
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What's the difference between an identical twin and a clone? It's all just semantics at this point.
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The scientists themselves aren't helping, by naming the new sheep "Dolly" as well.
There are plenty of non-stupid reasons to do animal cloning, and human cloning has the potential to help millions of infertile couples. Someday cloning *will* begin to leave the laboratory, and when it does, we need to make sure the public has a rational understanding of what a clone is and is not. Otherwise, the horrific science fiction prophecies will fulfill themselves.
Should have named them (Score:3)
Duncan Idaho...
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now we know the identity of (Score:3)
Now we know the identity of the Lost Cylon.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/15/sunday/main6300824.shtml [cbsnews.com]
There are some interesting bits in that link.
"With her under anesthesia, they just took this small piece of her tumor, without her knowing, and they put it in a dish and sent it down the hall to George Guy, who was the head of tissue culture research at Hopkins," said Skloot. "He had been trying to grow human cells for decades, and it had never worked. And hers just took off."
"We know, mechanically, that the cells stay alive because they have this enzyme in them that rebuilds the ends of their chromosomes, so the cells just never get old, they don't die," Skloot said. "But why her cells did that when all the other cells didn't is still a little bit of a mystery."
.
"To tick off all the way HeLa cells have been used, we would be sitting here for weeks," Skloot told Axelrod. "Hundreds and thousands of studies. They were used to help test the polio vaccine so that it could be approved for use in people. They went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to human cells in zero gravity. Hers were the first cells ever cloned, some of the first genes ever mapped. They've been used to create some of our basic cancer drugs, like tomaxiphin.
"When you look at this in the context of the family story, you know, at 25 years after her death, not only were her cells still alive, but there were enough of them that if you could pile them all on a scale, they'd weigh 50 million metric tons," Skloot said. "That's 150 Empire State Buildings. You know, it's just inconceivable that that could even be true, and it was."
That's quite something but there's a darker side to this
"Is there any way to calculate how much money has been made off of Henrietta Lacks' cells?" Axelrod asked.
"No. They were the first cells ever commercialized, and that was in the 1950s," said Skloot. "You know, you can buy online HeLa cells or products made from HeLa cells for anywhere from about $200 to about $10,000 a vial."
"But it's an incalculable amount of money?" Axelrod asked.
"Yeah," said Skloot.
And consider this: The family of the woman whose cells changed medical history . . . can't afford health insurance.
Henrietta's middle child, Sonny, is $100,000 in debt after bypass surgery.
Henrietta died eight months after the cells were take
A major "con" of cloning falls apart (Score:5, Interesting)
Since these cloned animals appear just as comfortable and pain free as your "run of the mill" farm animal, it seems as if cloned animals can be just as humane to farm as normal animals. In fact, since the meat yield from each animal is much higher (by definition of selective cloning as the pinnacle of selective breeding), I would argue that using more cloned animals would reduce the ecological impact of the meat industry.
Ye average American Joe might not want to eat cloned meat, but clones are already breeding like mad to produce more productive offspring. Perhaps this new longitudinal study will give more insights on the ethics and health impacts of cloned meat.
Re:A major "con" of cloning falls apart (Score:5, Insightful)
And by breeding hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of Dollys, you make a population that will collapse much faster when that virus or bacteria mutation comes along that has a liking for the Dolly host.
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I wouldn't mind eating beef from a cloned animal if I were to be informed accordingly. Matters become rather complicated when it comes to burgers and other processed meats where I understand such meats might be made of more than 100 animals. Scary!
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Maybe out of respect for those who would mind.
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I had never heard that argument, but even if it were true it would still be absurd. Compared to the horribly unsanitary conditions that exist on most factory farms, and the painful end in store for them at the slaughter house, I'd think a little arthritis would be the least of the animals' worries.
But all that aside, this is still not the "major con" to cloning. The big one that comes to mind is the susceptibility to disease due to lack of genetic diversity. All it takes is one mutation in some common di
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Welcome to modern farming, witness the Cavendish banana, Haas avocado, Russet potato, Heavea rubber tree, and countless other varieties that are produced well in excess of 50% of worldwide consumption in their category. It's here today with cloning.
Re:A major "con" of cloning falls apart (Score:5, Interesting)
The immune system argument is indeed the primary flaw of mass cloning, but our understanding of the role of genetics in forming an immune system is weak at best. However, we do know that immune systems aren't deterministic; genetic makeup X + environment Y doesn't always yield protection Z. As you said, the unsanitary conditions in factory farms induce tremendous suffering in the animals, but it also leads to a serious suppression of natural immune function. They are pretty much saturated in antibiotics from birth to slaughter to suppress infections; their natural immune system are essentially useless in those conditions. I'm purely speculating here, but what if a particular animal or animal line had an immune system that retained most of its function under terrible conditions? What if a particular animal displayed tremendous variability in initial antibody seeding?
It's tempting to think of animals as computer systems, where a single computer virus can easy take over identical systems with nearly identical ease. However, the immune system just doesn't work like that. To use a crude and somewhat misleading example, factory farms are like networks of computers running Windows XP with no service patch, no firewall, and no built in antivirus. However, every 4 hours, a godlike remote antivirus scan is run, and purges each system. If a virus or a bacterial strain is powerful enough to kill a line of Dollies, it's most likely strong enough to kill a line of sheep on the constant verge of death. Throw in antibiotic overuse, and it seems unlikely that there's a statistically significant risk increase between a factory full of Dollies and a factory full of randoms.
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Ye average American Joe might not want to eat cloned meat, but clones are already breeding like mad to produce more productive offspring.
Clones breeding like mad??? You know something that we don't? 'cause TFA mentions "surrogate mothers".
To reach the breeding like mad level, I imagine one would need a "cloning vat" or something.
For the time being, the "economic efficiency" of cloning can't be better than by natural breeding, perhaps the "selectivity of the breeding" might have been improved – assuming that the clones really grow without other genetic troubles because of the process
TFA "The professor, who plans to publish details abo
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Ye average American Joe might not want to eat cloned meat,
He eats cloned plants, e.g. bananas. What's the difference?
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it seems as if cloned animals can be just as humane to farm as normal animals.
Ha, I see what you did there! [/sarcasm]
Piracy (Score:5, Interesting)
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From a quick Google search, there are probably earlier examples.
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Monsanto has sued farmers for "pirating" their genetic sequences
Re:Piracy (Score:5, Informative)
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Obligatory Dune Reference (Score:3, Funny)
So it is written. (Score:4, Funny)
"That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die."
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"That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And in Soviet Russia even death may die."
FTFY.
Four sheep at once (Score:5, Funny)
Now that is a Texas-size sexual fantasy!
Reagan (Score:5, Funny)
The GOP is hoping to clone Ronald Reagan before the 2012 election, being that they are short real candidates.
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Someone mod this "funny because it's true". :D
(At least, true at the presidential level. We're leveling Congress, though.)
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Nod to Terry Prachett (Score:2)
...call them Dolly Sisters.
Not Exact Copies (Score:2)
Unless they used eggs from the same host animal as before, they are unlikely to be genetically identical since the mitochondrial DNA will be different.
The mitochondrial DNA problem is one reason why embryonic stem cells produced via cloning are still rejected by the animal in which it is implanted.
Clone of a Clone of a Clone of a Clone of a Clone (Score:2)
They need to see how far they can push cloning, I propose they keep cloning this sheep and see how far they can take the cloning before they end up with nothing by Eldritch Abominations....
And in a freak lab accident... (Score:2)
Watch out for Dolly 5 (Score:2)
Bit of a war monger that one. Keep it away from Cardassians (especially Damaaaaaaaaaaaar)
Don't see the fuss myself, they all look the same to me.
Yawn..... (Score:2)
There were more clones, but the scientist could never finish counting them - they kept falling asleep.
Rather clone asses (not: arses) next time.
Time to rewrite the nursery rhymes. (Score:4, Funny)
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was slightly grey,
It didn't have a father, just some borrowed DNA.
It sort of had a mother, though the ovum was on loan,
It was not so much a lambkin, as a little lamby clone.
And soon it had a fellow clone, and soon it had some more,
They followed her to school one day, all cramming through the door.
It made the children laugh and sing, the teachers found it droll,
There were too many lamby clones, for Mary to control.
No other could control the sheep; their programs didn't vary,
So the scientists resolved it all by simply cloning Mary.
But now they feel quite sheepish, those scientists unwary,
One problem solved! But what to do, with Mary, Mary, Mary...
-- by Anonymous (it's not mine; the writer's name is forgotten.)
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Well, it's not as if they created her out of some sort of vacuum. They're just manipulating the machines that nature has already provided.
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I wonder if they have a hive mind - could this be the first Beowool cluster?
If the sheep have a hive mind, wouldn't it be a Bee-O-Wool cluster?
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They said only god could create life, well, then Dolly is irrefutable prove that there is no god.
Or that they were wrong about only God being able to create life.
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The question is: who stated that second theory? Not a scientist, I'm pretty sure.
Any reasonable people would believe neither, as none has any evidence to support itself.
Re:I wonder how the pet resurrection is going (Score:5, Insightful)
This makes me wonder how many people are cloning their pets and bringing them back.
I'm not sure I could do that myself. I miss some of mine, but would it be appropriate to bring them back, or should I just get another?
Don't know. But I think about it.
There are so many that need homes right now ... I know that I miss my first Newfie and my St. Bernard, but I also know that when my current Newfie and mutt pass on, there will always be other large dogs that need a home ...
-- Barbie
Re:I wonder how the pet resurrection is going (Score:4, Funny)
Exactly. When my dear kitty passes on I'm sure she'll want me to give another shelter cat the same chance at a happy life that she had.
Plus, why would I disturb her from her eternal nap? Surely that's any cat's idea of heaven.
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Plus, why would I disturb her from her eternal nap? Surely that's any cat's idea of heaven.
The clone would be a different entity. Just like an identical twin is a different person from his/her twin sibling.
That's also why "Dolly the Sheep Alive Again" is wrong. Dolly the Sheep is dead. These are new clones.
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Well obviously. Did you not catch that I was joking?
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What is the difference between getting a new pet and getting a new pet that shares your old pet's DNA?
(Aside from the high risk of the clone having genetic defects and dying young.)
Re:I wonder how the pet resurrection is going (Score:5, Funny)
I would think after 3 or 4 incarnations you'd not feel so guilty about putting a bullet in one after it shits on the carpet
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About 1200 grams of useless gray matter.
Re:I wonder how the pet resurrection is going (Score:4, Informative)
There is no bond. Its a new individual. Its all in your head. The animal won't know or care.
One thing you can be assured of is that it will have a different personality (anamality?). You will probably be disillusioned.
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(I'm not the same AC)
I think it's presumptive to assert that clones will have a different personality. I imagine that's quite possible, especially for those who adopted pets which were already mature (thus their personality was fully formed beforehand). However, I've had several cats from birth (because we had taken in the mother), and other cats and dogs right from weaning. Those animals developed their personalities under our care, and I suspect there would be a better than even chance that their clone
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One thing you can be assured of is that it will have a different personality (anamality?).
Personality is a breed/environment thing. The breed is going to be exactly the same of course, the only difference would be the environment, but if you were the previous owners of the pet then it's not likely that the environment will change much. So it's really unlikely that the new pet will have a different personality given that all other factors remained (relatively) the same.
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One word: Twins.
QED.
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You can never go home again.
Re:I wonder how the pet resurrection is going (Score:5, Insightful)
Too much of the development is dependent upon protein activation times and whole bunch of other stuff I know nothing about, for the cloned animal to be exactly like the original. For example, in the case of cats, the color is not directly determined by the DNA. The cat CC was the first cloned pet [wikipedia.org], and it did not look like its genetic donor. I imagine behavior is even more finicky, as it is affected by experiences and other such nebulous factors.
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How long until we see countries cloning mass eugenicized armies of the perfect race for warfare, class-control, workforce supply, and nationalistic tendencies? 50 years anybody?
Using a particular template doesn't guarantee anything beyond superficial characteristics. You have to train your warriors, though these days I suppose its in the software more than anything else. The only practical outcome from cloning I can see is growing replacement body parts. I can definitely see that happening.
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but consider about one in ten people has the ability for extreme bodybuilding....I would think there are many physical characteristics that would make a much better than average warrior. Perhaps even some brain firmware is more suited for the training, we don't yet know.
hmmm, that argument could work for hot and willing women too, worth a try....
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Those with one expression of it keep on jogging while the ones with a slightly different collapse. The ones with the first gene are also better suited to prolonged exertions of force.
The geneticists who actually breathe drink and live the human genome every day know of many genes that combined properly will give you the ultimate soldier.
It doesn't stop there, you can have faster
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Two major issues: Religion, and Star Trek.
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Gattaca showed the disparity between the "haves" and the "have nots". It didn't go so far as to say there was any disparity between the "haves" in their own little circle. One can argue that the difference between the folks in the high end jobs and the bottom end jobs right now is exactly the same thing, exc
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They're just the same as twins.. and no-one likes twins, they're all evil.
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Quite wrong actually. It took over a hundred attempts before Dolly was cloned successfully. The clones that were produced had significant health problems. The genes aren't entirely methylated the way they ought to be and the telomeres are markedly shorter than they should be. To clone a human being at this point would be incredibly inhumane.
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Quite wrong actually. It took over a hundred attempts before Dolly was cloned successfully. The clones that were produced had significant health problems. The genes aren't entirely methylated the way they ought to be and the telomeres are markedly shorter than they should be. To clone a human being at this point would be incredibly inhumane.
Couldn't they look at merging their efforts here with these efforts [slashdot.org] where they are:
Researchers bred genetically manipulated mice that lacked an enzyme called telomerase that stops telomeres getting shorter causing the mice to age prematurely and suffer ailments, including a poor sense of smell, smaller brain size, infertility and damaged intestines and spleens. When the mice were given injections to reactivate the enzyme, it repaired the damaged tissues and reversed the signs of aging raising hope among sc
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That would solve the telomere problem but the improper methylation issue remains. This may be solved with embroyonic research
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Oh I'm sorry, you are talking about reality, not science fiction...? Yeah. 50 years. Sure. And you forgot using people as batteries.
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for those lamb, maybe they could be modified to produce sour cream and grow tomatoes internally, ready for slapping into a gyro
How about beef with legs like centipedes, for multiple hind quarters full of prize winning strip steaks and filet mignon.
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The Bovine Centiped - Their Flesh Is His Fantasy.
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