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Cloning: A brief timeline surrounding Dolly

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You must know Dolly?! The sensational sheep that was famously cloned in 1996. She’s been heavily reported in near every biology textbook and her story is eagerly recited by millions. She played a significant role in advancing our scientific knowledge. However, most are unaware of the work that led to her being a possibility and in almost three decades we have had major advancements! Did you know Dolly wasn’t even the first cloned animal?

Here is a brief history of cloning from the past and some of the controversial techniques availible today.

Photo of dolly the sheep from the natural history museum in Edinborough

What is cloning?

Cloning is the process of creating a genetically identical individual. Identical twins are natural clones. This concept is widely used as a plot line in media. You must have seen cloning in the movie Jurassic park! Perhaps the book Alex rider? Where an evil scientist creates clones of himself and uses them to try and achieve world domination.

The possibilities of cloning is exciting but clearly potentially problematic! More on that later…

Time line Towards Dolly

  • The early days 1885 – Embryonic cells were separated in the early stages of development of sea urchins.
  • 1928 – The same method was used to clone salamanders but were not viable/fully formed
  • Nuclear transfer – 1950 – The first successful nuclear transfer on a tadpole!

A frog egg nucleus is removed and a the nucleus from another tadpole is added into the empty frog egg.

  • 1958 – Nuclei from differentiated cells were found to result in development.
  • 1970s- The first genetically identical mice was produced by splitting mouse embryos.
  • Dawn of Cloning – 1996 – Dolly the sheep, the first mammal from an adult somatic cell was created.

Cloning after Dolly

  • 2001 -Endangered animals have been cloned.
  • 2013 – Human embryonic stem cells are created using somatic cell nuclear transfer. 

The successful cloning of Dolly led the way for vast improvements in our understanding of stem cells. For the first time it had been shown that a cell could be reprogramed after it had specialised and be used to form an organism. Important ethical issues were raised particularly surrounding human cloning and later the use of human embryos for stem cell research. Would you want your DNA used to create another being the same as you? On one hand it would be kind of amazing to have someone that thinks and acts inherently the same as me but at the same time I don’t think I could stand another one of me! Many had a moral apprehension around cloning and as such human cloning was immediately banned by UNESCO. The use of human embryos is also heavily regulated with the Warnock report restricting research on embryos up to 14 days old.

Nowadays there is a market for Pet cloning, yes you heard me right! Companies are providing the ability to have the DNA of your pet cloned to bring back your lost pup! I am flabbergasted that this is availible for purchase. My first thoughts were that this was pointless as it wouldn’t fully bring back your lost pet but after watching the video I am less sure. it did seem to bring solace to the pet owner, if its a harmless venture, why not?

Watch how cloning has been used to create Marley and Mabel!

Cloning can be hugely beneficial, such as producing live stock with desirable traits and the potential to study genetic diseases and develop cures, including bringing joy back after the loss of a beloved pet. However cloning also raises the concern of autonomy and individuality some argue that its unnatural and could lead to the exploitation and misuse. Additionally the technology required for cloning is expensive unavailable to most third world countries. Is it right to be benefiting from something that others cannot? What do you think?

Bibliography

Books (2023) Anthony Horowitz. Available at: https://anthonyhorowitz.com/books/list/series/alex-rider (Accessed: 11 March 2025).

Häyry, M. (2018) ‘Ethics and cloning’, British Medical Bulletin, 128(1), pp. 15–21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldy031.

Sciences (US), N.A. of et al. (2002) ‘Cloning: Definitions And Applications’, in Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning. National Academies Press (US). Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223960/ (Accessed: 11 March 2025).

The History of Cloning (no date). Available at: https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/clonezone/ (Accessed: 10 March 2025).












			


	



	



	
	
	
		

		
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