Cloning: Inheritance, variation and evolution: Biology: GCSE (9:1)

• Clone

  An organism that is a genetically identical copy of another organism

  
• Tissue culture

  Small groups of plant cells that can be used to grow identical new plants, important for the preservation of rare species or commercial use in nurseries

  
• Plant cuttings


  An older method used by gardeners to produce many identical new plants from a parent plant

  
• Embryo transplants

  Splitting cells apart from a developing animal embryo before they become specialised, then transplanting the identical embryos into host mothers

  
• Adult cell cloning

  A method of cloning that involves combining an unfertilised egg cell with the nucleus of an adult body cell, using electrical stimulation

  
• Nuclear extraction

  The first stage of adult cell cloning is to remove the nucleus from a donor organism's unfertilised egg cell

  
• Donor organism

  Unfertilised egg cells are harvested from an organism of the same or similar species as the desired organism to be cloned

  
• Enucleated egg cell

  An unfertilised egg cell without a nucleus

  
• Body cell nuclear transfer

  The nucleus of an adult body cell is extracted from the desired organism to be cloned and is later inserted into the enucleated egg cell

  
• Adult body cell

  A differentiated cell from an adult organism such as a skin cell or nerve cell, that is not involved in reproduction

  
• Electric shock stage


  Following the fusion of the body cell nucleus and enucleated egg cell, an electric shock stimulates the egg cell to divide to form an embryo

  
• Products of adult cell cloning

  The embryo cells that have been electrically shocked now contain the same genetic information as the original adult body cell, the embryo is officially a clone

  
• Embryo development

  When the cloned embryo has developed into a ball of cells it is inserted into the womb of an adult female to continue development

  
• Surrogate mother

  An organism that is volunteered to carry the developing cloned embryo, usually the same or similar species as the embryo

  
• Benefits and advantages of cloning

  Can be used to produce many organisms, can help achieve food security, can conserve endangered species and can potentially be used to bring species back from extinction

  
• Risks and disadvantages of cloning

  If many organisms are cloned they would be susceptible to the same diseases, low success rates, risk of complications, considered unethical and could be prone to misuse