Answers to FAQ

 

So, what exactly is a clone? 

• There are actually many definitions of a clone. Anything that was produced asexually could be considered a clone, for example, a plant that was produced by grafting. For humans, a clone would be considered anything that is genetically identical to another person. So a natural clone would be an identical twin.

Will a clone have the same fingerprints as the person (s)he was cloned from?

• A clone is the same as having an identical twin that was born several years or decades after you, so s(he) will have a different set of fingerprints.

Would we be able to clone dead people?

• Ian Wilmut, one of the creators of Dolly, has conceded that in theory it should be feasible to clone people who have just passed away. However, it would not be possible to use the genetic material from a dead person after just a few hours as the cells would have started to degenerate. Even if you tried to preserve DNA by freezing it, most scientists think that the procedure will still be unsuccessful.

So theoretically, IF we could somehow clone genetic material from dead people, could we possibly clone Einstein, but even Hitler?

•  While a clone would have the same genetic identity of another person, the two people would have different personalities and traits, as other factors beside genes (such as the environment) help shape an individual. Thus, even if we could obtain Einstein's or Hitler's genes (it is not feasible to clone someone from a dead person, even if there DNA has been frozen), we would not be able to ensure that the person would have Einstein's intelligence or Hitler's dictatorial style.

For clones produced using the Dolly technique, is all its genetic material from the donor cell? Does the fact that the clone developed from part of an egg cell affect the clone's genetic composition?

• While most of the DNA in a cell is in its nucleus, a few genes are found in mitochondria, another organelle in the cell. There is some confusion over which mitochondria gets inherited in the clone, the donor cell's or the egg's. In Dolly, 99.5% of her mitochondria was found to be of the egg's. This could be an indication of the differences a clone might have from the adult (s)he was cloned from.