Introduction
Cloning can be defined as the molding of an organism that has the same genetic settings as another organism. This means that the created organism has the same DNA as the original organism. Naturally, there exist human clones which can be attributed to the fact that they have the same DNA settings and it is important to note that these clones were not made in a laboratory but were born as identical twins. Historically, the first cloning was done on a sheep which is popularly known as Dolly and this was in the year 1997. But the cloning technology had been present for a number of years before the first success was recorded on Dolly the sheep (McLaren 2000).
Main body
There are various ways of creating a cloning and some of the most popular ways include the artificial twining of embryos and transfer of nuclear sells. Artificial embryo twining is the traditional way of cloning and can be said to be the lowest technology in the art of cloning (McLaren 2000). It involves the copying of the natural process which ends up in the creation of natural twins. Naturally, twins are created after an egg is fertilized by a sperm.
In cases which are not normal the eggs which has been fertilized divides itself into an embryo which is two-celled and hence separates and creates two individuals within the mother of the twins. This is how identical twins are created. This is the same way that artificial twining of embryos is done. It is achieved by separating the embryos manually.
The transfer of somatic cells through nuclear uses a different approach than the artificial embryo. However, the results are the same as those of the artificial embryo. This is the approach that was used in creating Dolly the sheep. Somatic cell can be said to be any cell in the body excluding the reproductive cells which are the ova and the sperm. Somatic cells are also called germ cells and this can be rooted to the fact that they only have a single cell which is complete. Mammals have somatic cells which contain two complete sets of chromosomes. Nuclear can be said to be the brain of the cell and it is an enclosed compartment which is in possession of all the information need by an organism. This information is what is referred to as DNA and it has a unique way of being identified (McLaren 2000).
Conclusion
Both approaches result in the creation of an organism. However, there is a distinction between the two approaches and this can be seen in that the two cells that are used by the two approaches originate from different sources. In fertilization the egg and the sperm contains a single set of chromosomes and when they are joined a zygote is produced (McLaren 2000). A zygote hence contains two sets of chromosomes each from the egg and the sperm. In somatic cell nuclear transfer, the cell from the egg is removed and replaced by the nucleus from the somatic cell and this has chromosomes which are two complete sets.
Bibliography
McLaren A, 2000, “Cloning: pathways to a pluripotent future”. Science 288 (5472): 1775–80.