BLUEPRINT OF LIFE

Process information from secondary sources to describe a

methodology used in cloning. Identify how the following
reproductive technology may alter the genetic composition of a
population
1. Label the diagram showing the processes involved in tissue culture of plants

Tiny sections of plant

tissue are removed
from the plant
meristem

Superior parent
plant

A small plant identical

to the parent plant
grows

Tissue is sterilised to prevent

bacterial growth. It is then
placed in growing medium
(which contains nutrients,
plant hormones, an energy
source, water and thickener to
make the media gel)

Each free cell

becomes a
smaller
embryo

Seedling develops
from the embryo

2. In step form describe the processes of tissue culture

Explant: Cut out Plant
The first step is to obtain an explant. This is achieved
tissue and place in tissue
by cutting out a very small piece of a leaf or stem
culture container
tissue, or even isolating individual cells, and placing
them in a tissue culture container. The tissue must be
sterilized (in bleach) so it will not be contaminated by
bacteria or fungus. It is then placed inside the tissue
culture containing a gel called agar. In the agar is all
the dissolved sugar, nutrients and hormones that the
plant needs
Multiplication: Tissue
The tissue will begin to grow. It may make a big bulb
grows and produces small
called callus, or it may make new shoots directly from
plants
the explant tissue that was inserted in the container
Rapid multiplication by
Once the plantlets start developing, some can be
transfer of cultures
removed and placed in new tissue culture containers.
Thus, another forest of plants is produced. This
results in a rapid multiplication of the cultures and
many thousands of plants can be produced in a few
months
Transplanting
When the plantlets are large enough, they ca be
removed from the tissue culture container and
transferred into pots with potting soil. The young

plants are grown in a greenhouse (just like a cutting

or young seedling)

3. Assess the value of tissue culture in agriculture and horticulture

Advantages
- Many plants can be produced in a
short time
- Plants can be cultured all year round
no disturbances from climatic
conditions
- Easy to store and transport
- Selection of desirable traits
- Rapid propagation
- Eliminates plant diseases through
careful stock selection and
sterilisation
- Produce plants with identical growth
habits or identically shaped
desirable commercially and reduces
management (plants have the same
requirements and produce high
yields at around the same time
planting requirements such as
fertiliser, treatments for disease, pest
control and harvesting are uniform)
- Reduces the unknown element in
selective breeding the
characteristics being bred can be
controlled

Disadvantages
- Identical equally prone to same
environmental effects and disease
- Procedure requires special attention
and care
- Doesnt introduce any new genes into
the gene pool can pass on
undesirable traits
- Loss of genetic diversity in a population
- Alleles which may be of benefit in the
future may be lost
- Needs to be high care and training
(labour intensive)
- Cost with equipment and chemical
materials
- Complex process difficult to maintain
seedlings obtained from tissue culture
as they as small in early stages

Judgement
Although tissue culture does have a few disadvantages, the advantages of using
this method of propagation are greatly beneficial. It is a valuable method as it
produces high yields at synchronised times, increasing profitability and
decreasing management for the farmer. In addition to this, tissue culture is not
damaging to the environment. As cultures are able to be grown in glass houses,
the environment of these plants can be managed in order to increase yield.
Although the gene pool is restricted, tissue culture allows the farmer to only
grow the plants with most desirable characteristics, overcoming the problem of
disease attack. Therefore, tissue culture is a valuable method of propagation to
4. Identify the impact of cloning plants on the genetic composition of a population
-

Reproductive cloning produces an organism derived from only one parent

genetically identical organisms
Reduced genetic variability/diversity of the population as all organisms
would have identical DNA
Cloning restricts the gene pool may lead to other features, besides the
desired characteristic, becoming more common changing environment
and lack of diversity could endanger the survival of the species
Cloning changes the genetic composition of a population because:

An increase in genetically identical organisms will result in smaller

gene pools
Some alleles which may be of future benefit may be lost to the
population
Loss of genetic variation and certain characteristics will dominate

5. Label the diagram showing the processes involved in cloning a sheep

6. In step form describe the processes used

Remove udder
cell from Finn
Dorset Ewe
Isolate donor
nucleus

Get unfertilised
eggs
Remove the eggs
nucleus, which
contains DNA

Insert donor
nucleus into
enucleated egg
cell

Fuse cells with

electricity

Place egg into

womb

The cells from the udder are cultured in low medium nutrient
for a week. The nutrient deprived cells stopped dividing,
switched off their active genes and became dormant
The nucleus from the somatic (non-reproductive) cell of the
adult donor sheep is isolated as the nucleus contains the
complete genetic material of the organism. This step is
repeated many times to gather many cell nuclei.
A small needle and syringe (micropipette) is used to poke
through the cell membrane to capture the nucleus and
remove it from the cell.
Unfertilised eggs are retrieved from the egg cells of a female
sheep. Many eggs are needed since not all of them will
survive the various steps of cloning
The nucleus of the egg is removed. (this process is called
enucleation) It contains only one-half of the sheeps genetic
material. This is achieved in the same way that the nucleus
is extracted from the donor (A small needle and syringe is
used to poke through the cell membrane to capture the
nucleus and remove it from the cell)
The nucleus, with its complete genetic material (which was
isolated from the donor mammal), is inserted into
enucleated egg of the sheep (which has no nuclear
material). The eggs genetic material now contains all traits
from the donor adult. This egg is genetically identical to the
donor adult.
The two cells are then zapped with electricity, causing the
cells to fuse or blend together. The now fertilised egg cell
is now allowed to undergo normal growth and development,
dividing by the process of mitosis.
The egg is placed into a female sheeps womb. Only a small
percentage of the eggs placed into the womb will start to
mature. Those that survive will continue to develop into
embryos. When the offspring is born, it is a clone (genetically
identical) of the donor sheep

Scottish Blackface, which provided the ovum. The nucleus was removed to
form one of her harvested egg cells
Finn Dorset, which had some cells removed from the udder. The cells were
cultured and made quiescent

The udder cells and enucleated ovum were then made to fuse by placing
them near each other, giving them a pulse of electricity
Then the cells are allowed to rest before having another electrical impulse
applied. This stimulated them to divide
After 6 days, the embryo had formed and it was implanted into a third
sheep, another Blackface ewe. This was a surrogate mother and she
carried Dolly until she was born

Remove DNA from unfertilised e

Remove udder cell from Finn-Dorset Ewe

Use electricity to fuse cells

Single cell

Culture containing early embryo

Implant in surrogate mother

Cloned cells continue to divide producing lamb

Cloning is a technique that could be

used to increase numbers in an
endangered species. What effect
would cloning have on the genetic
diversity of the species?
Explain TWO possible evolutionary
effects of a disease entering an
endangered population containing
some cloned individuals

A man manipulates the

reproductive process through
cloning plants to gain advantage.
Identify and explain changes that
may occur in the genetic
composition of the manipulated
population.
Each time a mammal is cloned, the
process of somatic cell nuclear
transfer (SCNT) involves three
animals. Identify and describe the
role played by each of these
animals during SCNT

Explain why Dolly the sheep is

genetically the identical twin and
not the daughter of sheep 1

Cloning results in genetically identical

offspring. This can reduce the frequency of
diversity within a species gene pool

Example: A disease entering a population

of endangered organisms in which there
are some cloned individuals and some
normal individuals may have no effect at
all if all of the individuals (the species and
its clones) are resistant to it. However if
only the cloned individuals have resistance
to this disease, then they would increase in
the population through their greater
survival and reproduction, will the nonresistant individuals would die off. While
disease resistance would be selected for,
there would be a decrease in the genetic
diversity because only the cloned
individuals having identical genotypes to
the parent would survive.
To explain changes in the genetic
composition of cloning, students need to
identify the cause and effect to obtain 2
marks.
Cause clones have the exact genotype
of the parent
Effect having many clones will reduce
the genetic diversity of the population
1. The mature animal to be cloned
(genome donor): this animal provides a
nucleus which contains the DNA
instructions to be passed on to the new
(cloned) individual
2. The female egg donor: she provides an
egg cell whose nucleus is removed
termed enucleated egg cell. The
cytoplasm of this egg cell is needed to
activate all genes in the nucleus, even
those that may have been shut down in
a mature cell
3. The surrogate mother: the clones
embryo is implanted into her uterus to
develop and grow; she will give birth to
the embryo, but is not its biological
mother
Dolly is genetically identical to sheep 1
because the nucleus of the cell taken from
sheep 1 contained the full genome that
Dolly inherited. Dolly did not have two
parents, but received all her genetic
material from sheep 1. They are therefore
genetically identical.

Account for cloning being called

somatic cell nuclear transfer

The nucleus is taken from a nonreproductive body cell, also known as a

somatic cell. (For example, in cloning Dolly
the sheep, the nucleus was removed from
a somatic cell in the udder of the donor
sheep.) This nucleus is then transferred
into an embryonic cell, which eventually
gives rise to the clone. Therefore the term
somatic cell nuclear transfer is a suitable
term for cloning as it accurately describes
the procedure used in this technology.
Explain the role of each of the
(a) The nucleus is removed so that it can
following processes in nuclear
be transferred to an embryonic cell and
transfer
provide the genetic material for the clone.
a) Enucleating the donor egg
(b) This simulates the process of a sperm
b) Exposing the fused cells to a
penetrating the membrane of the egg
short, sharp burst of
during
electricity
fertilisation, to trigger division of the
c) Exposing the DNA of the
fertilised egg cell by mitosis so that it can
transferred nucleus to
undergo embryonic development.
cytoplasm of an immature
(c) The cytoplasm of the embryonic cell
egg cell
switches on all of the genes in the
d) Implanting the cloned
genome so that embryonic development
embryo into the surrogate
can occur. The nucleus of a differentiated
mother
adult cell usually has only some genes that
are active or switched on; all others are
inactive. The genome must be surrounded
by cytoplasm of an immature egg cell if all
genes are to be activated.
(d) The surrogate mother carries the
embryo to full term, ensuring that it can
undergo normal
embryonic development in the uterus of an
animal of the same species and be born at
a stage where it can survive
independently.
All mutations are harmful. Discuss The statement is a broad generalisation
this statement
and is incorrect. A mutation describes any
changes that may occur in an organisms
DNA sequence. Changes can be harmful as
well as beneficial to an organism. Without
these changes occurring, the process of
natural selection would not be able to take
place, and organisms would not be able to
survive in a changing environment.
Assess the impact of advances in
- Cloning is a technological development
both reproduction and genetics on
that can result in offspring that are
the development of technology
genetically identical. Cloning in animals
could not have developed without an
understanding of embryo development
and how the nucleus carries genetic
information. Tissue culture is a way of

Discuss how cloning whole

organisms could benefit humans

cloning plants that relies on an

understanding of the processes of cell
division in plants and how they can be
stimulated by hormones
Cloning has led to the more efficient
production of transgenic species. These
technologies could not occur without
the understanding of the role of DNA
and certain DNA sequences in growth
and development
Without the knowledge of biology,
technologies such as cloning would not
be possible. However the biological
research has gone beyond an
understanding of natural process of
reproduction and genetics
Combined with genetic engineering, it
could benefit humans by helping to
provide medicines and better animal
products for human use. They could
provide genetically identical animals for
scientific research
Could be applied to transgenic species
to maximise their benefits
Could be used to maintain endangered
species
Used to produce genetically identical
animals for scientific research
Used to improve the quality of animal
agricultural products