E-Book Content
Cloning A Biologist Reports This page intentionally left blank Cloning A Biologist Reports Robert Gilmore McKinnell Professor of Genetics and Cell Biology College of Biological Sciences University of Minnesota UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS D MINNEAPOLIS Copyright © 1 979 by the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. Published by the University of Minnesota Press, 2037 University Avenue Southeast, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 Printed in the United States of America at Harrison & Smith-Lund Press Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data McKinnell, Robert Gilmore. Cloning. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Cloning. 2. Cell nuclei—Transplantation. 3. Embryology, Experimental. I. Title. QH442.2.M32 596'.OT6 79-10569 ISBN 0-8166-0883-0 The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. This book is for the children of Beverly Walton Kerr This page intentionally left blank Preface wrote this book. But, it would never have appeared had I not received help from teachers and others over the years. Let me acknowledge their help, while not suggesting that they are at all responsible for whatever errors, in fact or in judgment, may occur in this book. First, the teachers. Professor Lora Bond of Drury College inspired me, Professor Richard A.Goff of the University of Oklahoma encouraged me, Professor Nelson T. Spratt, Jr., of the University of Minnesota helped me, and Dr. Thomas J. King of the National Cancer Institute, instructed me. Others assisted with the manuscript and its several versions. Most of all, I thank Ms. Beverly Kaemmer of the University of Minnesota Press for her friendly attention to detail and her gentle ways as she scissored and rearranged awkward prose. Dr. Barry Pierce, University of Colorado Medical Center, Dr Marie A. DiBerardino, Medical College of Pennsylvania, and Dr. V. Elving Anderson, University of Minnesota, each read the entire manuscript. Drs. Peter D. Ascher and Donald B. Lawrence of the University of Minnesota advised me about plants. I thank Dr. Edmund F. Graham, University of Minnesota, for discussing I VII Acknowledgments with me agricultural applications of cloning. My associates in research, Mr. Lyle Steven, Ms. Janet Sauer, Mr. Thomas Fontaine, Jr., and Dr. Robert Bergad read proof, detected errors, and made other suggestions. I thank them. The frogs described in this book are a major part of my life. I thank Mrs. Ruth S. Boyce, Alburg, Vermont, for providing quality frogs for my research from the Lake Champlain area of northern Vermont. Mr. Gib Hedstrom, Alexandria, Minnesota, provided extremely useful advice and helped me with frog collections many times. My wife, Beverly, and children, Nancy, Robert, and Susan, have given up many a weekend, without compensation, to help collect Rana pip/ens for my research. Their expertise in frog collecting and their sympathetic understanding are gratefully appreciated. R. G. M. 1 April 1979 VIII Contents Acknowledgments 1 2 3 4 5 6 Why a Discourse on Cloning? Of Apples, Frogs, and Humans "A Fantastical Experiment" To Clone a Frog 3 14 28 Cancer, Aging, and Other Challenges On Cloning Mice and Men A Hundred Einsteins? Epilogue 11 5 Suggested Reading Index vii 125 119 95 78 50 This page intentionally left blank Cloning A Biologist Reports This page intentionally left blank 1 Why a Discourse on Cloning? Of Apples, Frogs, and Humans C loning is much in the news. The p u b l i c has been bombarded with newspaper articles, magazine stories, books, television shows, and movies —as well as cartoons. Unfortunately, much