Nuclear Transportation Summary/Stance
by
Regine Epps
Summary/Stance
Summary
In the article titled, Nuclear Transportation Embryonic Stem Cells, and the Potential for Cell Therapy, written by Konrad Hochedlinger, Ph.D and Rudolf Jaenisch, M.D., the article describes the process nuclear transportation of adult donor cells and why reproductive cloning has been unsuccessful. They provide four major conclusions that help describe what happens at the nuclear level. The four conclusions include clones dying at the beginning of gestation, cloned animals had preexisting abnormalities, the abnormalities are connected to the aberrant gene expressions, and the vitality of the clone depends on the state of differentiation of the donor cell.
First, they submit the fact that most cloned embryos don’t have a high success rate after they’ve implanted. And those that do make it to birth, are most likely born with abnormalities such as kidney, liver, heart, and brain defects. According to Hochedlinger and Jaenisch (2003) inadequate “reprogramming” of the donor nucleus is thought to be the principal reason for the development loss of most clones. The researchers also state that errors within the reprogram of the genes also causes failure. In contrast, zygote is reprogrammed at the start and finish with normal development. They inform the reader that with prezygotic reprogramming genomic imprints are required and those could be from either the mother’s or the father’s chromosomes. The authors state that nuclear transportation can be done once the identical embryonic cells of the patient are shifted to functional cells.
Reference
http://web.mit.edu/7.31/restricted/pdfs/Jaenisch_03_NEJM.pdf
b.) What is your position on the use of Stem Cells in research today?
Stem cells have always been described as “life-saving cells” so I have always been supportive of stem cells. I conducted my own short research about stem cells and found that baby teeth possess stem cells and banking them is a good idea. But the process of banking them is expensive and most people aren’t able to afford the cost. The term cloning has been framed as negative connotation and causes me to disagree because of all the conspiracy theories that surround the term, cloning. I don’t support the idea of cloning to increase the human population. However, I do support the act of therapeutic cloning supplying someone with another chance to correct genetic defects like the authors declared. Also, I found information that helps support the aforementioned article, by reinserting the fact that stem cells have the potential to help treat diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, missing teeth, muscular dystrophy, Crohn’s disease, and many more.
Reference for 3b
https://www.unmc.edu/stemcells/educational-resources/importance.html
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