CLONING ENDANGERED AND OR EXTINCT

SPECIESBy: Justin SorianoMorgan Period 8

Basic Principles of Genetics Traits are controlled by dominant alleles

whenever it is present. Traits are controlled by recessive alleles

when no dominant alleles are present. In co-dominance neither of the alleles is

dominant nor recessive so both traits are shown in the offspring.

When parents have offspring, each of the parents give 13 chromosomes, giving the offspring some of each parent’s traits.

The Human Genome Project

The Human Genome project started in 1990 .Its purpose was to unlock the information in the about 25,000 genes in the human DNA and use it for many different applications such as genetic test.

Implications of the Human Genome project. Ethical: Genetically engineering food and organisms to make them

better. Legal: identifying suspects if DNA matches that of the crime

scene. Social: Genetically breeding offspring to make them have a

specific trait such as intelligence. It changed laws because with genetic testing, companies such as

health insurance can see the likelihood of someone to get a disease such as cancer . The law GINA, (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act), prevents companies from using genetic testing to deny coverage based on their genetics.

Genetic Disorders Three Different Types of Genetic Disorders

Single gene disorder-GM2 gangliosidiosis Hexosaminidase A deficiency, more commonly known as Tay-Sachs disease is an automosal recessive genetic disorder that causes a deterioration of mental and physical abilities that starts around six months of age and usually results in death by the age of four.

Chromosome abnormalities- Color blindness affects 8% of males and 0.04 % of human females. Color perception depends on three genes, each producing chemicals sensitive to different parts of the visible light spectrum. Red and green detecting genes are on the X-chromosome, while the blue detection is on an autosome.

Multifactoral Disorders: Attention Deficit-Hyperactive Disorder or ADHD is a disorder in which a person cannot focus on a certain thing without sudden outbursts.

Genetic Counseling can help perspective parents with genetic disorders because it shows them the chance that their child will have a genetic disorder with karyotypes, pedigree charts, and punnet squares.

You can use karyotypes to predict genetic disorders because a karyotype is a picture of the chromosomes in a cell. If you look at a specific chromosome you can find out if a child will have down syndrome.

Argument 1: Bringing back Extinct or almost extinct Animals

The main reason for cloning extinct species is ultimately to bring them back to life. In 1999, Jose Folch, of the Center for Agro-Nutrition Research and Technology in Aragon, Spain , said his team were planing to clone an Pyrenean ibex because there was only one living ibex of that kind left. Using frozen skin samples taken from in 1999, Folch and his colleagues made clone embryos of the Pryrenean ibex by inserting its DNA into goat eggs emptied of their original genetic material. Unfortunatly the clone died. "We were not especially disappointed for the death of the cloned newborn," Folch explained because such deaths of clones were normal. But they are working on the technology to make cloning more efficient.

Argument 2: Studying the Extinct

Another advantage of cloning extinct species is that people can start to fully understand the habits of extinct species such as the wooly mammoth. "The idea that we could harvest DNA from extinct creatures, from fossil bones, learn something about their past," Sean Carroll, a professor of molecular biology and genetics at the University of Wisconsin said.

Argument 3: Frozen Zoo’s for endangered species

Also, we can use frozen zoo’s for endangered animals and recently extinct animals. The purpose of frozen zoo’s is to make sure the DNA of a specific animal is kept preserved perfectly for later cloning. The San Diego Zoo and the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans both maintain frozen zoos where the DNA of a growing number of endangered species is stored in tanks of liquid nitrogen at minus 320° Fahrenheit.

Argument 4: Learning about the Missing Links

Another reason we should promote cloning endangered is so that we can understand how species, such as humans, came to act. By cloning extinct animals and studying them, we can understand the “missing links” in the evolutionary timeline. David Wildt, a senior scientist at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., says that understanding our past traits will help us understand what will come in the future.

Conclusion

In the end, the government should support research for cloning endangered and extinct species. With all that we as human beings can understand from these majestic creatures it defiantly out ways the risks. Though in some peoples eyes it is unmoral and wrong, in the eyes of humanity it is right.

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