Question

In 1997, Scottish researchers captured newspaper headlines when they announced the birth of Dolly, a lamb cloned from an adult sheep by nuclear transplantation. These researchers cultured mammary (nuclear-donor) cells in a nutrient-poor medium and then fused these cells with enucleated sheep eggs. The resulting diploid cells divided to form early embryos, which were implanted into surrogate mothers. Out of several hundred implanted embryos, one successfully completed normal development, and Dolly was born. Later analyses showed that Dolly’s chromosomal DNA was identical to that of the nucleus donor. Numerous other animals have been cloned thus far. In fact, the science fiction plot of Jurassic Park, revolves around a theme park showcasing cloned dinosaurs. These dinosaurs were cloned from DNA found in mosquitoes that had sucked dinosaur blood and had been trapped and preserved in amber.

In this discussion, explain (in 250-300 words) why you think it is possible to recreate dinosaurs by this technique. (PLEASE TYPE & INCLUDE 1 - 2 SOURCES, NO DIAGRAMS)

Answer 1

Answer: With the available advancement in the molecular biology techniques we cannot rule out the possibility of creating a whole new creature with the available blueprint of organism i.e. DNA. Although the process can encounter tough challenges but with the available technology, we might be able to successfully clone the dinosaur. Dinosaurs DNA can be extracted from the fossils available to archaeologists or from the blood of sucking insects which are preserved under the amber. However, caution should be taken not to contaminate dinosaur DNA with the insect DNA or from other microbial DNA in the case where DNA is planned to be extracted from the fossilized samples. The extracted DNA can be split into smaller DNA fragments and cloned into an appropriate vector. After successful cloning of this DNA, an appropriate amount of DNA can be extracted from the vector. Using the bioinformatics tools we can deduce the arrangement of the whole genomic structure of dinosaur. The cloned DNA from vectors can then be arranged in similar order as the total genome structure. This is how we will get a working DNA model of dinosaurs. Now, we need to assemble this DNA in chromosomal structure. The gap in the DNA structure can be filled with the DNA from the orthologous species. After necessary changes required for implantation, the resulting structure can then be transferred in the enucleated egg of the same orthologous species. The resulting embryo can be transferred into "biobags", a recent breakthrough in the science, an artificial womb equipped with necessary factors required for embryo development. A successful development of an embryo in this condition may finally be able to result in the full-fledged dinosaur.