1st Edition

Epigenetic Risks of Cloning

Edited By Akio Inui Copyright 2006
    200 Pages 42 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Cloning has the potential to be an extremely valuable tool across many fields. In agriculture, the reproductive cloning of farm animals could prove to be advantageous. In clinical medicine, the employment of therapeutic cloning for cell, tissue, and organ replacement appears to be imminent. However, as with any advancement that is poised to touch human lives, the process of cloning must be looked at through the lens of the medical community’s obligation to do no harm.

    Epigenetic Risks of Cloning includes contributions from 32 leading researchers who are intimately involved with various aspects of cloning. At the frontlines of this science, they are best positioned to explain what is really occurring. With chapters dedicated to each of the animal models being employed for experimentation, the text presents a detailed accounting of cloning methods, an objective review of current findings, and an even-handed discussion of potential concerns.

    While procedures utilizing a variety of somatic cell types to create cloned animals have proven to be repeatable, efficient consistency has proven to be elusive at best. Less than four percent of reconstructed embryos typically develop to adulthood. This low success rate is the cumulative result of inefficiencies occurring at every stage of development.

    Epigenetic Risks of Cloning considers the very real consequences of those inefficiencies. In addition to embryonic loss, cloning experiments have experienced very high rates of fetal, perinatal, and neonatal loss, as well as the production of abnormal offspring. At present, there is a legitimate concern that the propensity for epigenetic errors could be paralleled in human embryos. This book offers an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with the current state of cloning, both the methods being utilized, as well as the risks being realized.

    Health Consequences of Cloning Mice, Kellie L.K. Tamashiro, Randall R. Sakai, Yukiko Yamazaki, Ryuzo Yanagimachi, and Teruhiko Wakayama
    Cloning Pigs from Somatic Cells and its Applications, Akira Onishi
    Amphibian Nuclear Transfer and Future Directions of Research, J.B. Gurdon
    Cloning in Cattle, Yukio Tsunoda and Yoko Kato
    Cloning the Equine, Kenneth L. White, Gordon L. Woods, Dirk K. Vanderwall,  Guanpeng Li, and Thomas D. Bunch
    Cloning in the Rabbit: Present Situation and Prospects, Patrick Chesné, Peter Chrenek Mireille Challah–Jacques, Nathalie Daniel, Laurent Boulanger, Xavier Vignon, Pierre G. Adenot, and Jean-Paul Renard
    Evidence for and Against Associations between ART and Congenital Malformation Syndromes, Michael R. DeBaun, Aimee S. Chang, Michael Wangler, and Kelle H. Moley
    Current Concepts in Cat Cloning, Martha C. Gómez and C. Earle Pope
    Ovine Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer: Retrospective Overview and Analysis of Epigenetic and Phenotypic Effects of Cloning Procedures, Robert Feil and Pasqualino Loi
    Cloning in the Rat, M. Hirabayashi and S. Hochi
    Index

    Biography

    Akio Inui

    “… takes a look at several of the success stories of somatic cell transplantation and assesses realistically how successful these attempts have been in the contest of the epigenetic effects on the viability and health of cloned animals. The volume is a collection of ten chapters, nine of which discuss aspects of animal cloning from the perspective of different animal systems. … the chapters in this volume are scholarly and carefully written. … includes a description of the technology involved in cloning or ART and then a discussion of the epigenetic risks involved in such technology. …”
    — Rob DeSalle, Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural history, New York, in The Quartely Review of Biology, 2006