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This is also why I hypothesize that at least one human clone is likely to exist or have existed. Cloning technology exists, and humans have therefore probably t

by hodder 8y ago

This is also why I hypothesize that at least one human clone is likely to exist or have existed. Cloning technology exists, and humans have therefore probably tried it somewhere.

wcoenen 8y ago
Cloning primates is difficult because the proteins that guide chromosomes during cell division are not scattered throughout the cell like for other mammals, and this causes problems when the nucleus of an egg cell is replaced[1] Researchers only reported successful cloning of monkeys in January 2018 [2]. (So if cloned humans exist already, they were likely born in the last few months.) [1] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2003/04/problem-cloning-primates https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2003/04/problem-cloning-prim... [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01027-z https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01027-z
- deleted 8y ago
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- hodder 8y ago
  Thank you for the links. I had wrongly assumed cloning humans would be pretty much the same as cloning sheep. Quoting the second article: “Technically, there is no barrier to human cloning,” says ION director Mu-Ming Poo, who is a co-author of the study." It would seem extremely likely the quote is applicable now. The paint is drying so to speak.
- inciampati 8y ago
  That is an interesting issue. However, there is another technique to create cloned mammals that has is used industrially to create non chimeric mice from embryonic stem cell cultures. A donor blastocyst is used as a host. At a particular stage of development, implanting a number of ES cells from the desired clone into the center of the blastocyst induces the donor blastocyst to develop into the placenta, while the ES cells continue development as the fetus. This allows for engineering of the ES cells independently, without failure prone nuclear transfer. It would be interesting to know if this would work in primates. It may be difficult to maintain the ES cell cultures. It might also be riskier in some sense. I'm curious what others know about this.

by hodder 8y ago

This is also why I hypothesize that at least one human clone is likely to exist or have existed. Cloning technology exists, and humans have therefore probably tried it somewhere.

wcoenen 8y ago

Cloning primates is difficult because the proteins that guide chromosomes during cell division are not scattered throughout the cell like for other mammals, and this causes problems when the nucleus of an egg cell is replaced[1] Researchers only reported successful cloning of monkeys in January 2018 [2]. (So if cloned humans exist already, they were likely born in the last few months.) [1] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2003/04/problem-cloning-primates https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2003/04/problem-cloning-prim... [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01027-z https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01027-z

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
hodder 8y ago
Thank you for the links. I had wrongly assumed cloning humans would be pretty much the same as cloning sheep. Quoting the second article: “Technically, there is no barrier to human cloning,” says ION director Mu-Ming Poo, who is a co-author of the study." It would seem extremely likely the quote is applicable now. The paint is drying so to speak.
inciampati 8y ago
That is an interesting issue. However, there is another technique to create cloned mammals that has is used industrially to create non chimeric mice from embryonic stem cell cultures. A donor blastocyst is used as a host. At a particular stage of development, implanting a number of ES cells from the desired clone into the center of the blastocyst induces the donor blastocyst to develop into the placenta, while the ES cells continue development as the fetus. This allows for engineering of the ES cells independently, without failure prone nuclear transfer. It would be interesting to know if this would work in primates. It may be difficult to maintain the ES cell cultures. It might also be riskier in some sense. I'm curious what others know about this.