The Curious Case of the
Carbon Copy Kitty
by
Nancy M. Boury
Department of Animal Science
Iowa State University, Ames, IA
The Star
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Image used by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature (Shin, et al, 2002, 415, 859) copyright 2002, http://www.nature.com.
Part I: Kitty Troubles
In each group - Person #1
Please tell your group the background
on Patch and the problem faced by her
TV show’s producers.
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What does Clontronics
propose?
4
So what is cloning?
5
Patch’s nucleus
The Cloning Process
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Video of Nuclear Transfer
From: HHMI Biointeractive video site at http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/video/index.html
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CQ#1: Was the production of the
clone a form of asexual or sexual
reproduction?
A. Asexual
B. Sexual
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CQ#2: What do you think? Can
cloning produce a calico cat identical
to Patch?
A. Yes
B. No
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CQ#3: The cheek cells that are
harvested are ___.
A. Haploid, just like the rest of the other cells
in Patch’s body.
B. Triploid, because they are cheek cells.
C. Diploid, just like the rest of the somatic cells
in Patch’s body.
D. Diploid, but half the chromosomes are in
the cytoplasm, and half are in the nucleus.
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CQ#4: Mr. Pseudofelis said if Patch was
male, he could have cloned the cat using
sperm without surgery. If he had used
sperm, the cloned kitty would be ____.
A. Identical to the original, they are clones
after all.
B. Diploid, but not identical.
C. Haploid, but identical in appearance to the
male sperm donor.
D. Haploid, assuming it completed
development.
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Part II: Work In Progress
Person #2: Please summarize the
new developments in the cloning
of Patch.
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Patch’s nucleus
The Cloning Process
Fluffy
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CQ#5: Assuming Clontronics used the
same method of cloning used for Dolly the
sheep, what contribution did Fluffy make
to this process?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
She was the DNA donor.
She was the egg donor.
She was the sperm donor.
She was the incubator.
Fluffy was not needed to clone Patch.
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CQ#6: If Clontronics is using the same
kitty-cloning process described by Shin
et al., should the producers expect three
viable kittens because there are three
implanted embryos?
A. Yes
B. No
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CQ#7: Do clones develop faster than
normal offspring?
A. Yes
B. No
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CQ#8: Is $2 million really the going
rate for a cloned cat?
A. Yes
B. No
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Part III: What Happened??
This is the kitty that
Clontronics
delivered…
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Image used by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature (Shin, et al, 2002, 415, 859) copyright 2002, http://www.nature.com.
Person #3: Explain this
newest development to your
group.
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Clontronics is sued for breach
of contract.
In their defense, they produce a
DNA fingerprint of the clone,
Patch and Fluffy.
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DNA Fingerprinting
http://www.dnai.org
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Exhibit A
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Table used by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature (hin, et al, 2002, 415, 859) copyright 2002, http://www.nature.com.
CQ#9: There are two different
numbers listed for each marker tested
because___.
A. Cats are haploid.
B. The scientists wanted to check their
work.
C. Cats are diploid.
D. Each marker is found in both the nuclear
and extranuclear DNA.
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CQ#10: If cats were tetraploid (4n)
species, each of these markers would
have at most how many different lengths
when testing a single cat?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
One
Two
Three
Four
Scientists can’t currently test anything that
isn’t haploid
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CQ#11: Clontronics promised a cat that
was genetically identical to Patches.
Given the data in Exhibit A, was the clone
genetically identical to Patches?
A. Yes
B. No
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CQ#12: What color is present in Patch,
but absent in her clone?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Orange
Black
White
Patch is identical to her
clone
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Images used by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature (Shin, et al, 2002, 415, 859) copyright 2002, http://www.nature.com.
Patches is a calico cat.
Is this relevant?
How are the orange and black
patches formed in a calico
cat?
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Lyonization
Black
Orange
Random
X inactivation
Black
Orange
Barr Body
Orange
B
B
O
After several rounds of
cleavage
O=orange
B= black
Black
B
O
Barr Body
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CQ#13: The expert witness explained the
process of lyonization to the jury. Based on this
explanation, the cell that was taken from Patch
had what difference that caused the difference
in phenotype between clone and original cat?
A. It had different mitochondria.
B. It had a Barr body with an inactivated white
producing X chromosome.
C. It had a Barr body with an inactivated black
pigment producing X chromosome.
D. It had an active Y chromosome.
E. It had a Barr body with an inactivated orange
pigment producing X chromosome.
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CQ#14: If you were on the jury, how
would you vote?
A. In favor of Clontronics, they did produce
a genetically identical clone.
B. In favor of the TV executives, they were
misled, so give them their $20 million.
C. In favor of the TV executives, but only
award $2 million.
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Exhibit B:
Patch, Fluffy and the clone.
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Image used by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature (Shin, et al, 2002, 415, 859) copyright 2002, http://www.nature.com.
For further reading
What is warm and fuzzy forever?
With cloning, kitty. New York
Times Feb 15, 2002
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Image Credits
Slides 2, 18, 25, and 31
Description: Photo of cats.
Source: From a two-paneled figure entitled “Figure 1: Nuclear-donor cat, and cloned kitten with its surrogate mother.” Panel (a)
portrays the adult female that supplied the cumulus cells for the nuclear transplantation; panel (b) shows the surrogate mother and
the cloned kitten. From: Shin, T., Kraemer, D., Pryor, J., Liu, L., Rugila, J., Howe, L., Buck, S. Murphy, K., Lyons, L., Wethusin, M.
(2002) A cat cloned by nuclear transplantation. Nature 415:859. doi:10.1038/nature723.
Link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v415/n6874/fig_tab/nature723_F1.html.
Clearance: Reproduced with permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature, copyright 2002. License #2743810036853.
Slides 6 & 13
Description: Diagram of reproductive and therapeutic cloning.
Author: en: converted to SVG by Belkorin, modified and translated by Wikibob.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cloning_diagram_english.svg#file
Clearance: Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Slide 7
Description: Somatic cell nuclear transfer.
Source: Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).
Link: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/media/scnt_video-lg.mov
Clearance: Used in accordance with the terms of use of HHMI at http://www.hhmi.org/popups/copyright.html.
Slide 22
Description: Table 1. Analysis of feline genetic markers.
Source: Shin, T., Kraemer, D., Pryor, J., Liu, L., Rugila, J., Howe, L., Buck, S. Murphy, K., Lyons, L., Wethusin, M. (2002) A cat
cloned by nuclear transplantation. Nature 415:859. doi:10.1038/nature723.
Link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v415/n6874/fig_tab/nature723_F1.html.
Clearance: Reproduced with permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature, copyright 2002. License #2743810036853.
Slide 27
Description: Diagram of lyonization.
Source: Nancy M. Boury, case author.
Clearance: Used with permission.
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