Cloning Dolly

show/hide words to know

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): molecular instructions that guide how all living things develop and function...more

Egg: a female gamete, which keeps all the parts of a cell after fusing with a sperm.

Gamete: specialized cells found in your reproductive organs that have half the amount of DNA of somatic cells. These cells combine to make a fertilized egg... more

Gene: a region of DNA that instructs the cell on how to build protein(s). As a human, you usually get a set of instructions from your mom and another set from your dad... more

Somatic cells: the cells in your body, except for gametes. Soma is Latin for body.

Sperm: a male gamete, which fuses with the egg during fertilization... more

Send In the Clones 

send in the clones

Would a clone of yourself actually be you? People might tell you that you have your mother's eyes or your father's smile, or that your sister looks just like you did at her age. Why is that? You know that you are different in some ways from everyone in your family, but the fact remains that children look like their parents, just like you look like yours.

Children look like their parents because they share genetic material. The genetic material of a cell is called deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA for short. The genetic material of a cell acts as a blueprint for what we look like. Half of your DNA is from your mother and the other half is from your father. You have your mother's eyes because you have those genes, specific units of DNA, from her that control eye color and shape.

Those genes came to you when your mother's egg fused with your father's sperm. Egg and sperm are specialized cells for reproduction. These cells are called gametes. Gametes only contain half of the amount of DNA a cell must have to live. This is because they eventually come together and mix their DNA. The process of egg and sperm joining is called fertilization.

These cells only exist in special parts of the body used for reproduction. The rest of your body is made up of cells that have the entire DNA they must have to live. Those cells that are found outside the reproductive organs are called somatic cells. This word is easy to remember if you know that soma means body in another language.

Natural Clones

When an egg is fertilized with a sperm and the DNA mixes, the cell starts dividing. Dividing cells is the way we grow from one cell to many trillion cells, which is what you are right now. Sometimes, the dividing mass of cells splits into two masses of cells. Both masses keep dividing. The cells all have the same DNA. The two eventually grow into two kids with the same DNA. They are then known as identical twins.

These kids have the exact same DNA, which is exactly what a clone is. Yes, we already have human clones walking among us! Amazing right? Perhaps you know some identical twins? If you do, you might know that they might look the same, but they are very unique people in many ways. That is why a clone of you might not be you at all in the end. They might just be a separate, unique and beautiful person, like you, but different.

View Citation

You may need to edit author's name to meet the style formats, which are in most cases "Last name, First name."

Bibliographic details:

  • Article: Send in the Clones
  • Author(s): Faye Farmer
  • Publisher: Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist
  • Site name: ASU - Ask A Biologist
  • Date published: September 29, 2009
  • Date accessed: March 6, 2024
  • Link: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/content/send-clones

APA Style

Faye Farmer. (2009, September 29). Send in the Clones. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved March 6, 2024 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/content/send-clones

American Psychological Association. For more info, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/

Chicago Manual of Style

Faye Farmer. "Send in the Clones". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 29 September, 2009. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/content/send-clones

MLA 2017 Style

Faye Farmer. "Send in the Clones". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 29 Sep 2009. ASU - Ask A Biologist, Web. 6 Mar 2024. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/content/send-clones

Modern Language Association, 7th Ed. For more info, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

Would a clone of you really be you?

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