Grade 10 Academic Science Cloning: The Basics Grade 10 Academic Science

Regeneration Discuss This… You cut your finger and it heals. You cut your hair and it grows back. You mow your grass and a week later it needs mowing again. Why does this happen? What is actually happening on a molecular level? New cells grow and replace damaged or lost cells, this is called regeneration. Do you think that simple animals or complex animals are able to regenerate easier?

Examples of Regeneration Star Fish: Simple Animal Chimpanzee Usually has five arms Only made up of a few types of cells If one of each of those cells is left alive then it can completely regenerate itself Many more different, specialized, types of cells Regeneration becomes much more difficult Can only regenerate skin, nails, hair and a few other tissues

Focus Slide Make sure you can answer and understand the following questions: What is regeneration? Why can a starfish regenerate its entire body? Why do you think a salamander can only regenerate a tail or a limb? What types of tissues do humans regenerate?

Cloning Our cells are extremely good at cloning. A skin cell in your body clones itself hundreds of times a day in your own body Meaning: your skin cell creates multiple copies of itself in one day in order to heal a cut or scrape or to replace dead or dying cells. But when we think of cloning we don’t really think about this process… Instead we think about…

Cloning the Process As a scientist we can study the way that our body clones cells and then apply it to making clones of cells, plants and even animals. The process starts with a stem cell… An unspecialized cell (hasn’t taken on a specific role)…meaning we can MAKE it specialized. These stem cells are found in the earliest part of development, which brings about an ethical issue…

The Arguments Pros Cons Can alter DNA to make plants and animals resistant to disease or chosen for specific genes Can clone organs and blood for transfer Grow food to feed the hungry Detrimental to genetic diversity Deliberate reproduction of unwanted human traits There will most likely be a cots barrier within cloning. Will it reach the common person? It demeans the value or human life Where are the stem cells found…

Take a Stance Choose two of the discussion topics that you have on the sheet in front of you. Write one paragraph outlining your beliefs and your answer to the question at hand. Remember there are no wrong answers to these questions as long as you show some knowledge on the topic and back up your opinion with facts.