Cloning


Cloning is the process of creating an identical copy of an original. A clone
in the biological sense, therefore, is a multi-cellular organism that is
genetically identical to another living organism. Sometimes this can refer
to "natural" clones made when an organism reproduces asexually, but in
common parlance the clone is an identical copy by some conscious design. The
word was coined by the British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane in 1963, and is
derived from the Greek word for "twig", kl?n.

In biology, cloning is used in two contexts: cloning a gene, or cloning an
organism. Cloning a gene means to extract a gene from one organism (for
example by PCR) and insert it into a second organism (usually via a vector),
where it can be used and studied. Cloning a gene sometimes can refer to
success in identifying a gene associated with some phenotype. For example,
when biologists say that the gene for disease X has been cloned, they mean
that the gene's location and DNA sequence has been identified, although the
ability to specifically copy the physical DNA is a side-effect of its
identification.

Cloning an organism means to create a new organism with the same genetic
information as an existing one. In a modern context, this can involve
somatic cell nuclear transfer in which the nucleus is removed from an egg
cell and replaced with a nucleus extracted from a cell of the organism to be
cloned (currently, both the egg cell and its transplanted nucleus must be
from the same species). As the nucleus contains (almost) all of the genetic
information of a lifeform, the "host" egg cell will develop into an organism
genetically identical to the nucleus "donor".

However, the term clone is used in horticulture to mean all descendants of a
single plant, produced by vegetative reproduction. Many horticultural
varieties of plants are in effect clones, having been derived from a single
individual, multiplied by some process other than sexual reproduction. As an
example, some European varieties of grapes represent clones that have been
propagated for over two millenia.

The modern cloning techniques involving nuclear transfers have been
successfully performed on several species: (in chronological order)

   * sheep: Dolly
   * rhesus monkey: Tetra (female, January 2000)
   * pig: 5 Scottish PPL piglets (March 2000), Xena (female, August 2000)
   * cattle: Alpha and Beta (males, 2001)
   * cat: CopyCat "CC" (female, late 2001)
   * mice: over a dozen as of 2002
   * mule: Idaho Gem (male, May 2003) and Utah Pioneer (male, June 2003)
   * horse: Prometea (female, August 2003)

However, the success rate has been very low: Dolly was born after 276 failed
attempts; 70 calves have been created from 9,000 attempts and one third of
them died young; Prometea took 328 attempts. With certain species such as
dogs and rats no successful clones have been created at all. Many people
believe that attempts to perform human cloning would be unethical, but some
scientists have publicly announced their intention to do so. Some believe
the Chinese may have already done so.

A surprising development to do with aging resulted from finds that Dolly was
apparently born old; she developed arthritis at age six. Aging of this type
is thought to be due to telomeres, regions at the tips of chromosomes which
prevent genetic threads fraying every time a cell divides. Over time
telomeres get worn down until cell-division is no longer possible - this is
thought to be a cause of aging. However, when researchers cloned cows they
appeared to be younger than they should be. Analysis of the cow's telomeres
showed they had not only been 'reset' to birth-length, but they were
actually longer - suggesting these clones would live longer life spans than
normal cows (but many have died young after excessive growth). Researchers
think that this could eventually be developed to reverse aging in humans.

Human cloning

Human cloning is a subject of great controversy regarding its ethical and
practical consequences. A number of groups have made claims that they are
working on or have already produced human clones. None of these claims has
been independently confirmed. For more on these issues, see the article
human cloning.

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In computer science, a clone is a computer system based on another company's
system and designed to be compatible with it.

When IBM came out with the IBM PC in 1981, other companies such as Compaq
decided to put out a clone of the PC as a legal reimplemenatation from the
PC's documentation or reverse engineering. As most of the components except
the PC's BIOS were publicly available, all Compaq had to do was reverse
engineer the BIOS. The result was a machine that had more bang for the buck
than the archetypes that the machine resembled. The term "PC clone" fell out
of use in the 1990s; the class of machines it now describes are simply
called PCs or Intel machines.

Software can also be cloned by reverse engineering or legal reimplementation
from documentation or other sources. Software such as MS-DOS's edlin line
editor and the Unix operating system have been cloned. The reasons for
cloning may include getting around draconian licensing fees or as a
curiosity; e.g. because the programmer can.

The Jargon File has this definition for clone:

  1. An exact duplicate: "Our product is a clone of their product." Implies
     a legal reimplementation from documentation or by reverse-engineering.
     Also connotes lower price.
  2. A shoddy, spurious copy: "Their product is a clone of our product."
  3. A blatant ripoff, most likely violating copyright, patent, or trade
     secret protections: "Your product is a clone of my product." This use
     implies legal action is pending.
  4. [obs] `PC clone:' a PC-BUS/ISA or EISA-compatible 80x86-based
     microcomputer (this use is sometimes spelled `klone' or `PClone').
     These invariably have much more bang for the buck than the IBM
     archetypes they resemble. This term fell out of use in the 1990s; the
     class of machines it describes are now simply `PCs' or `Intel
     machines'.
  5. [obs.] In the construction `Unix clone': An OS designed to deliver a
     Unix-lookalike environment without Unix license fees, or with
     additional `mission-critical' features such as support for real-time
     programming. Linux and the free BSDs killed off this product category
     and the term with it.
  6. v. To make an exact copy of something. "Let me clone that" might mean
     "I want to borrow that paper so I can make a photocopy" or "Let me get
     a copy of that file before you mung it".