Question

What is somatic cell cloning based on?

Answer 1

The use of mammalian somatic cells for nuclear transfer cloning offers a lot of potential. Somatic cloning, on the other hand, has proven ineffective in all species where live clones have been created. High rates of abortion and foetal mortality are prevalent. The inadequate reprogramming of the somatic nuclei by the cloning process has been blamed for these developmental abnormalities.

Complete answer:
Somatic cell cloning (also known as nuclear transfer) is a procedure that involves transferring the nucleus (DNA) of a somatic cell into an enucleated metaphase-II egg in order to create a new human that is genetically similar to the somatic cell donor. Dolly, a whole mammal cloned from a differentiated adult mammary epithelial cell, has sparked a scientific revolution. It showed that a mechanism known as nuclear reprogramming can entirely reactivate genes that had been inactivated during tissue differentiation:

The return of a totipotent nucleus to its differentiated state Somatic cloning can be employed to produce numerous copies of genetically elite agriculture animals, transgenic animals for pharmaceutical protein manufacturing or xeno-transplantation, and endangered species preservation. It also holds immense medicinal potential for therapeutic cloning and allo-transplantation with further improvement. Cloning has become an important method for studying gene function, genomic imprinting, genomic reprogramming, development regulation, genetic disorders, and gene therapy, among other areas.

Cloning's low effectiveness and high prevalence of developmental defects, on the other hand, is one of the most difficult obstacles. Currently, nuclear transfer efficiency ranges from 0% to 10%, i.e., 0–10 live births per 100 cloned embryos transferred. Every research team exploring somatic cloning has come across developmental problems, such as anomalies in cloned babies and placentas, as well as high rates of pregnancy loss and neonatal death. It has been suggested that insufficient reprogramming of epigenetic markers is a major cause of low cloning efficiency.

Note:
Somatic cell nuclear transfer has been used to clone human and animal embryos in order to produce stem cells for scientific and medical purposes. SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer) is a cloning, stem cell research, and regenerative medicine technique. Cloning for medical purposes (somatic cell nuclear transfer) Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), also known as therapeutic cloning, involves removing an oocyte nucleus from culture and replacing it with a nucleus generated from a patient's somatic cell.