Expert: John Locke - 1/19/2008

Question
Hello John,
 This is not a hw Q, simply I read this article on CNN.com=
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/01/17/cloned.embryos.ap/index.html
and I can't help but take a "Jurassic Park" type leap and wonder= is it now possible, today, to take cell matter from a dead person and clone him/or her?  In particular, what fascinates me is numerous famous people in history have parts of their bodies well preserved.  Take one example, Beethoven's hair was preserved in a near vacuum (until recently when taken out to be examined).  Is it actually possible, today, to clone a person in this way?

Thanks for your time,
Tim

Answer
Thanks for using AllExperts, Tim.

Right now, it is not currently possible to clone a human being for practical and legal reasons, but it is technologically feasible. Producing human clones for the purpose of carrying them to term is expressly illegal in a number of countries, including (so far as I know) the majority of countries that have the facilities to do so. That's not an absolute impediment, but it does make it harder for a scientist wishing to conduct such an experiment. Such a cloned embryo would have to be implanted in a willing surrogate mother; again, that would be an impediment to the process. There is a high failure rate for implanted embryos to begin with, and a potentially high rate for birth defects--including fatal birth defects--in a cloned human.

Using cell matter from a dead person is tricky because DNA itself is easily destroyed when subjected to unfavorable temperatures, ultraviolet light, or humidity. Thus, the cell material from a dead person would have to be very well-preserved to begin with, and probably not too old. DNA can degrade under the influence of time like anything else: cellular material from the recently dead, and not historical figures, would be most likely to work. With the example of Beethoven's hair, there's the additional question of whether that hair contains the root. Only the root of a hair contains any DNA. Indeed, not all human specimens would be suitable for cloning, because not all of them contain DNA.

All that said, the technological means to clone a human being from suitable genetic material do exist. A particular approach known as somatic nuclear cell transfer would probably be used (that's the same mechanism that was used to clone Dolly the sheep). You would need an intact cell nucleus from the person you wished to clone--the DNA itself would not be suitable, but both the DNA and its protective nucleus. That would probably necessitate having fresh genetic material, as opposed to dried or frozen human specimens; the procedure can only be performed manually at this point and is very labor-intensive.

To summarize, genetic engineering technology has advanced to the point where cloning can be accomplished given a suitable source of DNA, but the process is still very difficult. There are other impediments to carrying this out with humans, enough to suspect that no human reproductive cloning will take place in the near future, at least.