Ethical issues in animal cloning

The issue of human reproductive cloning has recently received a great deal attention in public discourse. Bioethicists, policy makers, and the media have been quick to identify the key ethical issues involved in human reproductive cloning and to argue, almost unanimously, for an international ban on such attempts. Meanwhile, scientists have proceeded with extensive research agendas in the cloning of animals. Despite this research, there has been little public discussion of the ethical issues raised by animal cloning projects. Polling data show that the public is decidedly against the cloning of animals. To understand the public's reaction and fill the void of reasoned debate about the issue, we need to review the possible objections to animal cloning and assess the merits of the anti-animal cloning stance. Some objections to animal cloning (e.g., the impact of cloning on the population of unwanted animals) can be easily addressed, while others (e.g., the health of cloned animals) require more serious attention by the public and policy makers.     

UN stalls on human cloning

The United Nations postponed again a controversial vote on the issue of therapeutic cloning of human stem cells, hampering the widely supported opposition to reproductive cloning but many countries are developing their own legislation.     

Knowledge and attitudes toward human cloning in Israel

The success of mammal cloning in 1997 has brought the issue of human cloning into public discussion. Human cloning has several aspects and potential applications for use in both reproductive and non-reproductive matters. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes toward human cloning in Israel. Data from 120 respondents (68 health professionals and 52 non-health professionals), all Jewish, Hebrew speaking with at least 15 years of education each, were collected using two questionnaires that dealt with knowledge and attitudes toward human cloning. Results showed that although health professionals had significantly more knowledge that non-health professionals, all respondents had poor knowledge about cloning. No difference in attitudes was found between the groups. Most respondents opposed human cloning, but more positive attitudes toward non-reproductive cloning were found. The results are discussed in the context of the deficit model. The findings indicate a need to provide information about human cloning to allow people to form their attitudes based on factual knowledge.     

Abortion rhetoric in American news coverage of the human cloning debate

Abstract

The issue of human cloning has received intense media and political attention since the cloning of Dolly the sheep was announced in 1997. This research explores the discursive basis for support and opposition to human cloning by examining the role of abortion-related rhetoric in constructing the concept of human cloning within the American press. An in-depth content analysis of human cloning news coverage was conducted on a sample of articles collected from the mainstream press as well as advocacy publications with either a pro-science or Christian fundamentalist orientation. Statistically significant differences were found indicating an important role for abortion rhetoric in the human cloning debate. This expansion of abortion rhetoric into the domain of science policy portends a unique and growing problem for resolving bioethical debates within American politics over the future development of biomedical technologies such as human cloning.     

Knowledge and attitudes toward human cloning in Israel

Abstract

The success of mammal cloning in 1997 has brought the issue of human cloning into public discussion. Human cloning has several aspects and potential applications for use in both reproductive and non-reproductive matters. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes toward human cloning in Israel. Data from 120 respondents (68 health professionals and 52 non-health professionals), all Jewish, Hebrew speaking with at least 15 years of education each, were collected using two questionnaires that dealt with knowledge and attitudes toward human cloning. Results showed that although health professionals had significantly more knowledge than non-health professionals, all respondents had poor knowledge about cloning. No difference in attitudes was found between the groups. Most respondents opposed human cloning, but more positive attitudes toward non-reproductive cloning were found. The results are discussed in the context of the deficit model. The findings indicate a need to provide information about human cloning to allow people to form their attitudes based on factual knowledge.     

Human cloning: category, dignity, and the role of bioethics

Human cloning has been simultaneously a running joke for massive worldwide publicity of fringe groups like the Raelians, and the core issue of an international movement at the United Nations in support of a treaty to ban the use of cloning techniques to produce a child (so called reproductive cloning). Yet, even though debates on human cloning have greatly increased since the birth of Dolly, the clone sheep, in 1997, we continue to wonder whether cloning is after all any different from other methods of medically assisted reproduction, and what exactly makes cloning an 'affront to the dignity of humans.' Categories we adopt matter mightily as they inform but can also misinform and lead to mistaken and unproductive decisions. And thus bioethicists have a responsibility to ensure that the proper categories are used in the cloning debates and denounce those who try to win the ethical debate through well-crafted labels rather than well-reasoned argumentations. But it is as important for bioethicists to take a position on broad issues such as human cloning and species altering interventions. One 'natural question' would be, for example, should there be an international treaty to ban human reproductive cloning?     

基于抗性恢复的高效克隆超短片段重组质粒的构建

分子克隆作为一种常规技术被广泛应用于DNA及蛋白质的研究。在传统的分子克隆中,主要通过限制性内切酶先分别消化目的 DNA片段及载体,再纯化回收,然后用DNA连接酶将二者连接。而对一些超短基因片段(300 bp),通过酶切及切胶纯化后,回收率极低,导致插入表达载体比较困难。文中介绍了一种新的利用质粒抗性恢复进行克隆的方法,大大提高了克隆效率,为短基因片段的分子克隆提供了一种高效的方法。     

Computer-aided high-throughput cloning of bacteria in liquid medium

Bacterial cloning was first introduced over a century ago and has since become one of the most useful procedures in biological research, perhaps paralleled in its ubiquity only by PCR and DNA sequencing. However, unlike PCR and sequencing, cloning has generally remained a manual, labor-intensive, low-throughput procedure. Here we address this issue by developing an automated, computer-aided bacterial cloning method using liquid medium that is based on the principles of (i) limiting dilution of bacteria, (ii) inference of colony forming units (CFUs) based on optical density (OD) readings, and (iii) verification of monoclonality using a mixture of differently colored fluorescently labeled bacteria for transformation. We demonstrate the high-throughput utility of this method by employing it as a cloning platform for a DNA synthesis process.     

Encircled: large-scale purification of replication origins from Mammalian chromosomes

A novel cloning strategy for sequences comprising mammalian replication origins, described by Mesner et al. (2006) in a recent issue of Molecular Cell, utilizes an origin trapping assay in which replication bubbles are selectively retained in agarose due to their circular nature.     

A major step on the road to understanding a unique posttranslational modification and its role in a genetic disease

The posttranslational conversion of cysteine to C(alpha)-formylglycine in the catalytic site of mammalian sulfatases is deficient in the rare but devastating disorder multiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD). Two papers in this issue of Cell report the cloning of a gene responsible for this activity.     

Sex determination in the honeybee

Sex determination in honeybees involves a multi-allelic locus, such that homozygotes develop as males and heterozygotes as females. In this issue of Cell, report the cloning of the sex-determining gene, csd. It codes for an SR protein, and different alleles have very different amino-acid sequences. Inactivating csd leads to development as a male.     

Language and values in the human cloning debate: a web-based survey of scientists and christian fundamentalist pastors

Over the last seven years, a major debate has arisen over whether human cloning should remain legal in the United States. Given that this may be the ‘first real global and simultaneous news story on biotechnology’ (Einsiedel et al., 2002, p. 313), nations around the world have struggled with the implications of this newly viable scientific technology, which is often also referred to as somatic cell nuclear transfer. Since the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1997, and with increasing media attention paid to the likelihood of a successful human reproductive clone coupled with research suggesting the medical potential of therapeutic cloning in humans, members of the scientific community and Christian fundamentalist leaders have become increasingly vocal in the debate over U.S. policy decisions regarding human cloning (Wilmut, 2000). Yet despite a surfeit of public opinion polls and widespread opining in the news media on the topic of human cloning, there have been no empirical studies comparing the views of scientists and Christian fundamentalists in this debate (see Evans, 2002a for a recent study of opinion polls assessing religion and attitudes toward cloning).

In order to further investigate the values that underlie scientists' and Christian fundamentalist leader's understanding of human cloning, as well as their differential use of language in communicating about this issue, we conducted an open-ended, exploratory survey of practicing scientists in the field of molecular biology and Christian fundamentalist pastors. We then analyzed the responses from this survey using qualitative discourse analysis. While this was not necessarily a representative sample (in quantitative terms, see Gaskell & Bauer, 2000) of each of the groups and the response rate was limited, this approach was informative in identifying both commonalities between the two groups, such as a focus on ethical concerns about reproductive cloning and the use of scientific terminology, as well as significant differences including concerns over ‘playing God’ for the Christian pastors, focus on therapeutic cloning by scientists, and subtle but informative differences between the two groups in their use of scientific terminology and their interpretations of human cloning as scientific progress.     

Language and values in the human cloning debate: a web-based survey of scientists and Christian fundamentalist pastors

Over the last seven years, a major debate has arisen over whether human cloning should remain legal in the United States. Given that this may be the 'first real global and simultaneous news story on biotechnology' (Einsiedel et al., 2002, p.313), nations around the world have struggled with the implications of this newly viable scientific technology, which is often also referred to as somatic cell nuclear transfer. Since the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1997, and with increasing media attention paid to the likelihood of a successful human reproductive clone coupled with research suggesting the medical potential of therapeutic cloning in humans, members of the scientific community and Christian fundamentalist leaders have become increasingly vocal in the debate over U.S. policy decisions regarding human cloning (Wilmut, 2000). Yet despite a surfeit of public opinion polls and widespread opining in the news media on the topic of human cloning, there have been no empirical studies comparing the views of scientists and Christian fundamentalists in this debate (see Evans, 2002a for a recent study of opinion polls assessing religion and attitudes toward cloning). In order to further investigate the values that underlie scientists' and Christian fundamentalist leader's understanding of human cloning, as well as their differential use of language in communicating about this issue, we conducted an open-ended, exploratory survey of practicing scientists in the field of molecular biology and Christian fundamentalist pastors. We then analyzed the responses from this survey using qualitative discourse analysis. While this was not necessarily a representative sample (in quantitative terms, see Gaskell & Bauer, 2000) of each of the groups and the response rate was limited, this approach was informative in identifying both commonalities between the two groups, such as a focus on ethical concerns about reproductive cloning and the use of scientific terminology, as well as significant differences including concerns over 'playing God' for the Christian pastors, focus on therapeutic cloning by scientists, and subtle but informative differences between the two groups in their use of scientific terminology and their interpretations of human cloning as scientific progress.     

Solving mysteries of DNA replication and frog cloning

Compared to sperm nuclei, nuclei from adult somatic cells replicate inefficiently in frog egg extract. In this issue of Cell, Lemaitre et al. (2005) show that pre-exposure of erythrocyte nuclei to a mitotic extract removes this difference, reorganizes the chromatin into shorter loops, and allows replication at much shorter intervals along the DNA. Remarkably, these observations also explain an old mystery of why serial nuclear transplantation was so successful for cloning frogs.     

布洛芬微生物降解研究进展

布洛芬是苯丙酸类非甾体类抗炎药物的典型代表,属于重要的药物及个人护理品类物质。大量生产和广泛使用的布洛芬在为人类减轻病痛的同时,也带来诸多环境污染危害,已经成为重要潜在环境污染物之一。本文简要介绍布洛芬的使用情况和环境中布洛芬残留的潜在风险,重点总结布洛芬的微生物降解及降解机理研究,提出应当关注污水、脱水污泥、河流沉积物和湿地中布洛芬的微生物降解,强调开展布洛芬降解基因克隆和功能分析以及从分子水平阐明布洛芬降解机理研究的必要性及紧迫性。     

虫生真菌研究与应用的发展与机遇 ——2012年虫生真菌专刊序言

我国从事虫生真菌基础及应用研究的人员众多,各方面均取得了重要的研究成果。2012年“虫生真菌专刊”收集了国内关于虫生真菌资源、基因克隆及活性成分代谢等方面的最新研究进展。进一步的基础研究,应加强致病基因功能和真菌-昆虫分子相互作用等研究,以提高真菌杀虫剂或药用虫生真菌的应用效率。     

Nutritional value of milk and meat products derived from cloning

The development and use of milk and meat products derived from cloning depends on their safety and on the nutritional advantages they can confer to the products as perceived by consumers. The development of such products thus implies (i) to demonstrate their safety and security, (ii) to show that their nutritional value is equivalent to the traditional products, and (iii) to identify the conditions under which cloning could allow additional nutritional and health benefit in comparison to traditional products for the consumers. Both milk and meat products are a source of high quality protein as determined from their protein content and essential amino acid profile. Milk is a source of calcium, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium and vitamin B2 and B12. Meat is a source of iron, zinc and vitamin B12. An important issue regarding the nutritional quality of meat and milk is the level and quality of fat which usually present a high content in saturated fat and some modification of the fat fraction could improve the nutritional quality of the products. The role of the dietary proteins as potential allergens has to be taken into account and an important aspect regarding this question is to evaluate whether the cloning does not produce the appearance of novel allergenic structures. The presence of bio-activities associated to specific components of milk (lactoferrin, immunoglobulins, growth factors, anti-microbial components) also represents a promising development. Preliminary results obtained in rats fed cow's milk or meat-based diets prepared from control animals or from animals derived from cloning did not show any difference between control and cloning-derived products.     

The Singapore approach to human stem cell research, therapeutic and reproductive cloning

With the controversial ethical issues on the creation of human embryos through cloning for therapeutic research, which holds more promise of medical breakthroughs that the world could ever imagine and the acknowledgement by many scientists that this technology may not lead in the near future to therapies; this country report discusses the approach Singapore takes on human stem cell research, interjected with the authors' own arguments and suggestions especially on research compensation injuries, an often neglected important issue. International comparative viewpoints taken by the major countries in the world are also included in the appendix.     

Irreversible barrier to the reprogramming of donor cells in cloning with mouse embryos and embryonic stem cells

Somatic cloning does not always result in ontogeny in mammals, and development is often associated with various abnormalities and embryo loss with a high frequency. This is considered to be due to aberrant gene expression resulting from epigenetic reprogramming errors. However, a fundamental question in this context is whether the developmental abnormalities reported to date are specific to somatic cloning. The aim of this study was to determine the stage of nuclear differentiation during development that leads to developmental abnormalities associated with embryo cloning. In order to address this issue, we reconstructed cloned embryos using four- and eight-cell embryos, morula embryos, inner cell mass (ICM) cells, and embryonic stem cells as donor nuclei and determined the occurrence of abnormalities such as developmental arrest and placentomegaly, which are common characteristics of all mouse somatic cell clones. The present analysis revealed that an acute decline in the full-term developmental competence of cloned embryos occurred with the use of four- and eight-cell donor nuclei (22.7% vs. 1.8%) in cases of standard embryo cloning and with morula and ICM donor nuclei (11.4% vs. 6.6%) in serial nuclear transfer. Histological observation showed abnormal differentiation and proliferation of trophoblastic giant cells in the placentae of cloned concepti derived from four-cell to ICM cell donor nuclei. Enlargement of placenta along with excessive proliferation of the spongiotrophoblast layer and glycogen cells was observed in the clones derived from morula embryos and ICM cells. These results revealed that irreversible epigenetic events had already started to occur at the four-cell stage. In addition, the expression of genes involved in placentomegaly is regulated at the blastocyst stage by irreversible epigenetic events, and it could not be reprogrammed by the fusion of nuclei with unfertilized oocytes. Hence, developmental abnormalities such as placentomegaly as well as embryo loss during development may occur even in cloned embryos reconstructed with nuclei from preimplantation-stage embryos, and these abnormalities are not specific to somatic cloning.     

Protease inhibitors in bacteria: an emerging concept for the regulation of bacterial protein complexes?

Serine protease inhibitors (serpins), the antagonists of serine proteases, were unknown in the bacterial kingdom until recently. Kang et al. in this issue of Molecular Microbiology report the cloning and functional analysis of the three serpin genes from the thermophilic anaerobic bacterium Clostridium thermocellum. Two of the serpins contain a dockerin module for location in the extracellular hydrolytic multienzyme complex, the cellulosome. The susceptibility of cellulosome to proteolytic degradation and the presence of a serine protease in the same complex provoke speculation that protease inhibitor/protease pairs could play hitherto unrecognized roles in protein stability and regulation in bacteria.