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[RC] A second chance at the same horse and other cloning questions - katswig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

From: beryls2001 beryl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And wouldn't you want a second chance at the same horse?

Personally, no thanks.  And besides, just because it is an identical twin
(that is the old way that genetic duplicates were described) doesn't mean
its the same horse.  Identical twins have existed in humans for as long as
recorded history, and virtually everybody agrees that you do both of them a
disservice if you forget that they are individuals in their own right and
raise/treat them as if they were the same (and most of them resent the hell
out of it).

Certainly, plenty of studies have been done on identical twins (it is, in
fact, one of biology's and psychology's favorite things to do), and it has
been discovered that they have less in common than one might be inclined to
think.  From the very first cloned foal, we already know that cloned horses
are BORN with different markings from the original (though markings are an
obvious and easily determinable difference, it would be wrong to assume
that just because the difference in markings is the only one you can see
when the horse is born that it is the only difference that exists).

The new technology of cloning is a very expensive way to get what is, in
essence, not much different from any other new horse that is genetically
related to the one you have (or the one you would like to have).

To try to correct any mistakes you made? 

Don't fool yourself into thinking that having a clone will give you the
chance to undo your mistakes on the original.  The mistakes on the original
will still exist no matter what you do with your new horse (and no matter
what the genetic makeup of your new horse).  You can (hopefully) avoid
making the same mistakes on the next horse whether it is a identical twin
or not.

Whether identical twins will "breed on" the same way that an original would
have is, at least so far, impossible to determine.  Nobody has a clue as to
what extent heritability is entirely genetically determined.  It is totally
possible that the breeding equipment of the twin is slightly differently
developed than the original and consequently the total crap shoot of which
of 16+ billion sperm in any one ejaculate fertizes which egg that matures
at which time in a mare is affected by something other than the DNA of the
participants.

Cloning may be scientifically interesting (and it may help to answer some
of these questions); however, it won't allow you to undo mistakes. And from
a genetic improvement/selective breeding standpoint it is theoretically
suspect.  Recombinent DNA is the reproductive technique of all of the
"higher" life forms (because it is recombinent DNA that provides the most
opportunity for improvement, you don't have to wait for a genetic
mutation).  Why it is that people would want to use a reproduction
technique that is has been practiced by bacteria for millenia and is shared
by snails is beyond me :).

kat
Orange County, Calif.

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