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Biotech Japan

Mouse Cloned From Drop of Blood 111

Ogi_UnixNut writes "Scientists in Japan have succeeded in cloning a mouse from a drop of blood. From the BBC: 'Circulating blood cells collected from the tail of a donor mouse were used to produce the clone, a team at the Riken BioResource Center reports in the journal Biology of Reproduction.' The female mouse managed to live a normal lifespan and could reproduce, according to the researchers."
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Mouse Cloned From Drop of Blood

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    Hideki!

  • try to explain that in your pedigree.

  • I see .... (Score:5, Funny)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @05:04PM (#44144061)

    ... thousands of nerds chasing Natalie Portman with needles.

    • by tloh ( 451585 )

      Leaking the pre-credit flash-back scene for episode 7...... I get it - Clone War II.... is that you, J J Abrams?

    • by MacDork ( 560499 )

      ... thousands of nerds chasing Natalie Portman with needles.

      Or a thousand New York police officers doing the same with cheek swabs.

    • Wouldn't work. The mouse in which she was implanted would explode, Alien-style, before she got 4 months old.

      Mmm. Any movie execs reading this?

  • by EmperorOfCanada ( 1332175 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @05:08PM (#44144095)
    Rich people cloning pets will be a mild controversy but mostly due to the money wasted. Some ego maniac cloning themselves will make the news. Then some people will clone lost loved ones causing a certain creepy factor news bite. But the cloning that will really make the news is when some company will claim (initially fraudulently) that they have the DNA of a variety of stars so you too can not only have Brad Pitt's baby but that the baby will be Brad Pitt. That is when the creepy factor will completely cross into the public discussion with all the legal, ethical, moral water cooler philosophizing that the news-people and their pundits can then do.

    Basically this will bring a 1,000 sci-fi books to life (but in a sad and pathetic kind of way).

    I'll start by asking: what do you with the kid if Hitler is cloned? Does Mr. Pitt owe child support to any of his clones? Or does Brad Pitt's father owe child support to the clones?
    • by ArcadeMan ( 2766669 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @05:15PM (#44144133)

      What do you with the kid if Hitler is cloned?

      Nothing. Apart from looking like the original, he'll be raised differently by different people in a different environment and so he won't be the same person. A clone is just a biological copy, not a psychological one.

      Does Mr. Pitt owe child support to any of his clones? Or does Brad Pitt's father owe child support to the clones?

      No and no.

      It's not even valid questions, you'd need incredibly twisted logic and totally ass-backward laws to support these ideas.

      • I wonder how this hasn't happened already. Woman obtains DNA of famous person. Has their kid (not a clone) by combining their DNA an that of the famous person and using invitro fertilization. Sues them for child support. The famous person could claim they never slept with the person, but if she had his child, it would be pretty hard to refuse otherwise.
        • nonsense, too many witnesses in the near term at exclusive facilities, in the far term this type of scenario would be first suspicion.

        • Depending on where this has occurred, they may very well be nailed for child support. It has happened with one time that I've heard of, though they weren't famous and it wasn't a clone, just a normal IVF. If I remember right, there was some controversy over the sperm and it not being intended for fertilization purposes.
        • Any scientist you hire will want to publish their results. Plus, this kind of research is not cheap, this business plan of yours is far too capital-intensive.

          You should just stick to the tried-and-true giving free blow jobs to celebrities [thefrisky.com] in parked cars.

        • DNA-based paternity tests only determine if someone might (or even probably) sired a child, it is not a certainty.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        There is no doubt that two genetically identical people which are raised in different environments will ultimately come out different people, but they will also be canonically similar. Many habits and behaviors are indeed genetically inherited. This is scientifically proven with selective breeding in dogs and foxes. An embryo taken from a hostile fox and implanted into the womb of an F9 domesticated fox will still grow up to be hostile toward humans.

        • by icebike ( 68054 )

          Many habits and behaviors are indeed genetically inherited. This is scientifically proven with selective breeding in dogs and foxes.

          People aren't Foxes, (aside from the above mentioned Natalie Portman).

          Most habits and behaviors in humans are learned.

          I don't believe there is much if any evidence of non-physically induced behavior being inherited.
          Twin studies (twins raised separately) tend to show that behavior is not inherited unless it can not be traced to physical sources (parting the hair on a certain side due to the pattern of hair growth, etc).

          Children who are orphaned, fostered, or adopted may have certain behavior or inheritable traits activated by certain environmental factors or adopted parents, but only within the limitations of their genes.

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Twin_Family_Study [wikipedia.org]

      • by excelsior_gr ( 969383 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @06:46PM (#44144545)

        you'd need incredibly twisted logic and totally ass-backward laws to support these ideas.

        Now you got me worried...

      • by EmperorOfCanada ( 1332175 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @06:55PM (#44144577)
        Actually this could get weird. Here is a story of a guy who donated sperm to a lesbian couple with contracts protecting him. Then the couple went on welfare so the state is now going after him for child support.

        http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/sperm-donor-sued-child-support-article-1.1232394 [nydailynews.com]

        As for the Hitler kid. It is not so much that the kid would be a genocidal monster but would have the crushing weight of history on him. I suspect that regardless of his predisposition that there would be groups calling for his blood (bad pun).

        The key here is that cloning is going to result in some screwed up situations.

        Let's say a serial killer has 5 clones made before he is caught. Then the first 4 (all raised differently) go on a killing spree themselves. What do you do with the 5th?

        Then what about the billionaire who has 300,000 clones made of himself by paying 300,000 women $10,000 each to be impregnated with his clone. (For the low price of $3 billion.)
        • as far as the 5th clone, what would you do? short of arresting or killing the person pre-crime, you monitor them. but in reality nobody is going to do anything pre-crime, i doubt anyone would even realize that there is a 5th clone waiting to kill after his 4 clone brothers have already done so.

          billionaire cloning himself 300,000 times? that would be bad ass.

        • by Ambvai ( 1106941 )
          "You are no longer merely human. You have become your own, weird DEMOGRAPHIC." -Schlock Mercenary (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-07-14)
      • by Nimey ( 114278 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @08:14PM (#44144917) Homepage Journal

        If it gets out that he's a cloned Hitler (or Boston Strangler, or Jeffrey Dahmer, or whatever) the kid could never have a normal life - he'd be in the fishbowl forever, because of a choice somebody else made. That right there makes it unethical.

      • It's not even valid questions, you'd need incredibly twisted logic and totally ass-backward laws to support these ideas.

        This sounds like a job for Congress!

      • by danlip ( 737336 )

        you'd need incredibly twisted logic and totally ass-backward laws to support these ideas.

        yeah, cause it's not like we have any twisted logic or totally ass-backward laws is today's legal system

    • I'll start by asking: what do you with the kid if Hitler is cloned?

      The film and music industry is prepared for that:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Saved_Hitler's_Brain [wikipedia.org]

      http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/angrysamoans/theysavedhitlerscock.html [plyrics.com]

    • There has been a pet cloning service for about a decade now. It's super expensive, and I have no idea if anyone has ever used it.
    • by icebike ( 68054 )

      Some ego maniac cloning themselves will make the news.

      Wouldn't that alone have covered the Brad Pitt angle?

      Thing is, the clones would still be individuals, with separate legal identities and rights. And like many children, would probably rebel against their "parents" due to all/some of the same reasons kids rebel, with a great deal of identity theft indignation thrown in as well.

      People aren't cats. And human rights accrue at birth in most civilized countries. (Except where gender may render someone to the status of property.)

      Back to your question: Brad Mark

    • True story: I was gifted with a genetically pretty good body. A couple things during gestation, prenatal development and delivery went just slightly wrong. (I was born breach, with I suspect near hypoxia and to a second-hand smoker, see: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4310. [skeptoid.com]) Nothing huge, but I do suspect some of my struggles wouldn't have been necessary in ideal circumstances. Despite this, I excelled at academic pursuits in my early years and had a pretty high athletic prowess as well. I had a good home, so

    • You want controversy, just wait until people start asking about the legality of cloning for the purpose of harvesting the body parts. Can I clone myself, alter the hormone balance in utero so the creature is born effectively brain-dead, then grow it (in a tank, for a proper sci-fi ambiance) until I need a new kidney or heart?

      Less futuristic, how about I clone myself but abort the fetus and harvest its stem-cells?

      And who "owns" the clone, prior to its birth anyway? The donor? The doctors? The woman who has b

  • When you would constantly curse... BLOODY MOUSE!

  • by billybob_jcv ( 967047 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @06:53PM (#44144565)
    Cloning smart people or beautiful people or athletic people is NOT the problem. The problem is when they decide to clone stupid people as servants & laborers. when the creation of slave classes of low-intelligence clones becomes economically viable, it will become a commercial, not social activity.
    • by elucido ( 870205 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @07:57PM (#44144845)

      Cloning smart people or beautiful people or athletic people is NOT the problem. The problem is when they decide to clone stupid people as servants & laborers. when the creation of slave classes of low-intelligence clones becomes economically viable, it will become a commercial, not social activity.

      Why bother? Machines make better servants and smart people can build them.

    • by glwtta ( 532858 )
      Cloning is a difficult procedure to create an organism that's (mostly) genetically identical to a different organism. It will no doubt become easier in the future, but will always require more effort than the regular means of procreation.

      Why do you think this lends itself to the creation of "slave classes"? There is currently no shortage of stupid people. In fact, the lower your requirements, the wider the selection.

      If you're talking about "below-normal" intelligence - if we ever find ourselves in a
  • by houbou ( 1097327 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @07:32PM (#44144749) Journal
    Now, let's figure out how to take our full memories, experiences and ego and let's start making mind transfers! :)
    • I saw a recent comment on the abortion issues in Texas which argued that killing a fetus was okay since it didn't have the same perception of existence as an adult. Laying aside more logical arguments on both sides of the debate (an undeveloped human brain doesn't make a person or alternately neither does a two year old,) this made it clear to me that some people are absolutely convinced that it is ethical to treat potential people as tissue for use or discarding as is most convenient. In that light, your s

  • Sniff... (Score:5, Funny)

    by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @07:33PM (#44144751) Journal

    You think they can bring back my old dog, Smokey? I've still got one of his paws in my sock drawer.

    He was the best. And I learned about how babies were made from watching Smokey with my family members' shins.

  • by Trax3001BBS ( 2368736 ) on Saturday June 29, 2013 @07:48PM (#44144815) Homepage Journal

    "Normal-looking offspring were obtained from all four strains tested."
    Link from article http://www.biolreprod.org/content/early/2013/06/25/biolreprod.113.110098.abstract [biolreprod.org])

    One scary a$$ line, indicates a 100% success rate.

    The ramifications of what's implied are numerous and cover every aspect of our future.

    • by glwtta ( 532858 )
      The ramifications of what's implied are numerous and cover every aspect of our future.

      Only if your understanding of cloning is based entirely on sci-fi movies and TV shows.
    • "Normal-looking offspring were obtained from all four strains tested."
      Link from article http://www.biolreprod.org/content/early/2013/06/25/biolreprod.113.110098.abstract [biolreprod.org])

      One scary a$$ line, indicates a 100% success rate.

      You should re-read the abstract to see what it is really saying.

      The end result is that they were able to get normal-looking offspring from all four strains tested. However, there was an excessive number of failures in the process in order to get that process. The important line over-looked indicating what it took to get those end results: "cloned offspring were born at a 2.8% birth rate". If you check table 1 of the full article it shows there were a total of 651 embryos cultured in order to get their en

      • "Normal-looking offspring were obtained from all four strains tested."
        Link from article http://www.biolreprod.org/content/early/2013/06/25/biolreprod.113.110098.abstract [biolreprod.org])

        One scary a$$ line, indicates a 100% success rate.

        You should re-read the abstract to see what it is really saying.

        The end result is that they were able to get normal-looking offspring from all four strains tested. However, there was an excessive number of failures in the process in order to get that process. The important line over-looked indicating what it took to get those end results: "cloned offspring were born at a 2.8% birth rate". If you check table 1 of the full article it shows there were a total of 651 embryos cultured in order to get their end results.

        This is very far from a 100% success rate.

        We have a different view of what constitutes 100%. Yes they started with randomly selected leukocyte nuclei but through the sorting and discarding
        those known to give poor results, they ended with four strains which normal-looking offspring were obtained from all four strains tested.

        I didn't count the ones discarded, as it's part of the cleansing process.

    • by cyn1c77 ( 928549 )

      "Normal-looking offspring were obtained from all four strains tested."
      Link from article http://www.biolreprod.org/content/early/2013/06/25/biolreprod.113.110098.abstract [biolreprod.org])

      One scary a$$ line, indicates a 100% success rate.

      The ramifications of what's implied are numerous and cover every aspect of our future.

      Really? Who, other than a slashdotter, would be excited to be set up with a "normal-looking" date?

  • Governments can now take a drop of the blood of any high IQ genius and clone them. Expect it.

    • Okay. I'll accept the premise for the purpose of discussion.

      Lets think long term and unethically, which I suspect defines a fairly large number of politicians. We'll say a couple dozen high level deep thinkers push the US government (why not?) into creating a "super thinkers" pool. They black budget a project where they select two hundred geniuses and sneakily develop clones that are then implanted (secretly) into 2000 unknowing mothers. Those mothers then get secret guardian angel bureaucrats making sure t

      • by danlip ( 737336 )

        Lets think long term and unethically, which I suspect defines a fairly large number of politicians.

        I think short term and unethical describes the thinking of many more.

  • Now we just need to clone a keyboard too.
  • Hopefully these guys are the next target. I LOVE their sashimi. Easily my favorite food ever. Eat at least once every week. Too bad according to some projections, they are supposed to go extinct in the next 10 years. Hopefully this tech also helps with the whaling problem as well. I don't like whale meat(and even living in Japan I'm yet to meet a single person who eats whale other than public school lunch) but for some reason Japan loves to kill them.
  • great, now go for the keyboard and make yourself a nice cloned kit

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