Chapter 20 Post

Hola! This chapter is all about genetic technology. 


One of the really interesting topics is reproductive cloning. Reproductive cloning is defined as "the cloning of a multicellular organism." One of the most famous cloned animals was Dolly. Dolly was a lamb, the first cloned lamb. How did they create Dolly? The video below explains it in a quick, simple, yet informative manner. The first step is extracting the donor sheep's mammary cell and growing it in a tissue culture flask. Then, you have to extract another sheep's unfertilized egg and remove its nucleus. Next, the cells are fused together with electric pulses. The maternal proteins in the egg and the donor nucleus from the mammary cell initiate the development of the egg into an embryo. The embryo is then transferred into a surrogate sheep and pregnancy continues as normal. Then...bam! A lamb is born! It is genetically identical to the donor sheep. Cool, right? Unfortunately, I don't think we'll get to clone sheep in lab, but it's still interesting to learn about it. 

These guys are on the weird side and kind of wacky but they have all the right information. At least it's interesting!


Another really cool topic from this chapter was DNA fingerprinting. The video below shops how DNA fingerprinting works in forensic science. The process described in the video involves gel electrophoresis. Hmm? Wonder what that is? Just kidding! Haha hopefully by now you know this process. PCR should ring a bell too. DNA fingerprinting is done using PCR, amplifying short tandem repeat sequences (STRs). They are short DNA sequences that are repeated many times in a row. DNA appears as a series of bands on a gel. The similarities and differences of the bands show whether the DNA is the same or not. If your sample bands match one of your control bands, you know the DNA is from the same person. Science has contributed extremely to criminal justice!

The not as cool type of cloning is gene cloning. This interactive activity explains the process of gene cloning and allows you to make a clone! It explains plasmids, restriction sites, restriction enzymes, and much more! The animations are really good and I thought the activity was really informative. Have fun with gene cloning! If the above link doesn't work, go to this site and click on "view."