ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997              TAG: 9702240121
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-4  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB - HOW?

Could people be cloned?

Theoretically, yes. Sheep and human beings are both mammals, and the technology used to clone one species could theoretically be applied to the other.

Who are the parents of a clone?

In genetic terms, the parents of a clone would be the man and woman whose sperm and egg formed the person who, in turn, was cloned. In some states, the woman who bears a child is its legal mother.

Could a cell from any part of the body be used to make a clone?

Researchers do not know, but they believe that a kind of cell called a stem cell would be easiest to work with. These cells, which later give rise to a variety of other cells, occur all over the body, even in hair.

Could you clone the dead?

No. You have to fuse two living cells: the egg and the cell containing the DNA you want to replicate.

Could a woman bear a clone of herself?

Theoretically, yes.

How would clones produced this way differ from identical twins?

Identical twins are born when a single fertilized egg splits in two, giving rise to two separate embryos. Scientists working with animals have long been able to split early-stage embryos in the laboratory to produce multiple births of genetically identical offspring. In this case, by contrast, the clone was made from an adult animal, whose genetic material was inserted into an egg cell.

Could you put the nucleus of a human cell into a sheep egg?

No. When the genetic material inserted in the egg begins to divide, it acts on instructions it receives from proteins in the egg. If the egg and the DNA are from different species, the instructions will not match.

Is it legal to clone people?

Britain, Spain, Denmark, Germany and Australia have laws barring human cloning, but the United States does not. Laws restricting use of federal funds on human embryo research might not apply, because any cloning would be done with eggs, not embryos.

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