Question 1: Define therapeutic cloning in your own words.

Answer: Therapeutic cloning is a process of creating embryonic stem cells that are genetically identical to a donor for medical treatment or research.

Question 2: Explain the main goal of therapeutic cloning.

Answer: The main goal is to produce healthy, compatible tissues or organs for transplantation without immune rejection.

Question 1: Describe the main steps involved in therapeutic cloning.

Answer: Therapeutic cloning involves extracting a somatic cell from the patient, removing the nucleus, and inserting it into an enucleated egg cell. The egg is stimulated to divide, forming an embryo. Stem cells are then harvested from the embryo for medical use.

Question 2: What role does nuclear transfer play in therapeutic cloning?

Answer: Nuclear transfer involves replacing the nucleus of an egg cell with a nucleus from a somatic cell, enabling the egg to develop into an embryo with the same DNA as the donor.

Question 1: If a donor cell has a DNA content of 6 picograms, what is the expected DNA content in the cloned embryo’s stem cells? (Assume no mutations occur).

Answer: 6 picograms

Question 2: Calculate the total number of chromosomes in a human somatic cell (46 chromosomes). How many chromosomes will the cloned embryonic stem cells have?

Answer: 46 chromosomes in both somatic and cloned embryonic stem cells

Question 1: List two practical medical applications of therapeutic cloning.

Answer: Generating tissues for transplantation; developing personalized medicine

Question 2: Identify one ethical concern associated with therapeutic cloning.

Answer: Potential destruction of human embryos, which raises moral and ethical questions.

Question 1: A research team reports that out of 100 attempts at nuclear transfer, 70 successfully develop into embryos, but only 35 produce viable stem cells. What is the success rate of developing viable stem cells from attempted clones?

Answer: 35% success rate

Question 1: Describe one way therapeutic cloning could be used to treat degenerative diseases.

Answer: Therapeutic cloning can produce healthy, compatible tissue or nerve cells to replace damaged or degenerated tissues in diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.

Question 2: Name one technological advancement that could improve the efficiency of therapeutic cloning in the future.

Answer: Advances in stem cell technology or gene editing techniques like CRISPR.