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Scientists Clone a Cow to Produce Lactose-Free Milk

cloning of cow producing lactose-free milk
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Lactose intolerance prevents most individuals from drinking milk or dairy products in general. That is why Russian scientists attempted to clone a cow to create lactose-free milk.

As we all know, we can’t observe lactose easily and we have to break down lactose into its elements, which include galactose and glucose.

Lactase contains conversions that can be easily carried out by an enzyme. However, this can be done by fermentation.

However, this process produces a lot of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and methane gas, which causes bloating and other stomach problems. In general, it has become a more common question, though, how can we remove lactose? 

How can we remove lactose? 

Non-gaseous fermentation and lactose products can raise the pressure of osmosis in the colon, which leads to an influx of Diarrhea and water.

During this process, A modern enzyme breaks down the lactose without affecting the remaining amount of milk.

But it’s impossible to use this type of traditional chemistry technique because it would ruin the flavor and probably make it unsafe to drink after a few hours. So, we can say that this process isn’t as effective as cloning. 

So now let’s discuss what’s exactly the term “cloning” means.

What’s meant by the term of cloning? 

Cloning defines the different processes which can produce multiple copies of the biological entity. 

We have a farm of cows, and these cows are used for milk or meat purposes. Let’s say there is a cow that gives very good quality milk and is very healthy, and it’s a good source of meat as well. That’s why this cow is the star of the farm. 

We wish that if we have multiple pairs of cows. It would be beneficial for the farm industry or the meat industry.

So, according to studies, we can generate clones of the star cow and that can give us an optimal quality of meat and milk.

How many types of cloning are? 

Cloning has many types. But some of them are given below

  • process of cloning genes
  • Cloning of reproduction
  • Cloning of therapeutic

Why was the idea of cloning developed? 

It was expected that cloning would lower the cost of farming, and would give rise to an optimum quality of meat and milk at a low cost, but their maintenance was way higher. 

So still, it’s a problem. By using cloning, we can increase the population, but it will also cause genetic disease in animals. And it will lead to the early death of animals. 

So, this issue is pretty complicated, and It’s an alarming research ethical topic. 

How do researchers do cloning? 

Cloning could be done for anything. There could be clones of DNA and sales. The identical twins are clones of each other. This simply means that clones are the same.

At first, you need some eggs of cow and then those eggs will be stored in the ovaries. You can pick up some to aspirate the eggs out of the ovaries. The yoke or nucleus of the egg will be removed. 

In Moscow, scientists from a federal livestock science center, have produced a cloned calf that produces milk without beta lactose.

In the first 8 months, a calf stayed with her mother, after her maturity calf moved with other cows. As the result, this process was proved with a healthier reproductive cycle.

In April 2020, the researcher wanted to produce hypo-allergic milk. That’s why they spliced genes from the calf and then removed beta-lactose from the calf’s body. They removed nucleus cells from donor animals and then transferred them to an egg. 

Is it possible to make a clone of an animal?

It’s possible, and it was possible in history because in 1996 there was an experiment by Prof. Keith Campbell and Ian Wilmot. The experiment took place in Scotland’s Rosin Institute, and they cloned Dolly. So, why is Dolly so special? 

What’s the story of cloned dolly? 

Dolly is a clone of Finn Dorset. Still, now, she’s pretty popular because she was fertile. She can give rise to offspring, and she is the same as her mother in terms of genetic makeup. 

How Dolly was created? 

The mother of Dolly was Finn-Dorset. From the dolly mother, scientists took cells from the mammary gland. They took the egg cells from Scottish blackfish. So, here, the Scottish blackfish acts like an egg donor. 

They put the nucleus with the help of a pipe, and the eggs became enucleated. So note that there would be no genetic material of a Scottish blackfish in the nucleated egg. They used an electric shock to a fuse that had two cell types. 

At the birth of her progeny, she was the same as her mother, Finn Dorset. They called her the dolly, and the dolly was the clone of Finn-Dorset.

Advantages of an animal cloning 

There are some advantages of cloning, that are mentioned below.

  • Cloning of animals doesn’t need to buy or reproduce a lot of animals. 
  • The hurdle of infertility can be removed by cloning. 
  • It would be beneficial for humans because cloning can improve our food supplies. 
  • It allows us to balance environmental habitats 
  • Cloning animals can be helpful for pet parents to find comfort.
  • It doesn’t create duplications of animals. 
  • Cloning of animals helps to overcome diseases 

Disadvantages of animal cloning 

There are some disadvantages of cloning that are mentioned below.

  • The experiment of cloning is unsuccessful most of the time. 
  • Cloning is the last reliable reproduction method. 
  • This process demands a high cost. 
  • Cloning animals reduces genetic diversity 
  • It decreases the rate of reproduction 
  • Cloning animals makes for abnormal pregnancies. 
  • The process of cloning an animal can’t produce offspring. 
  • This experiment raises more cancer-related concerns 

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed how can we get several benefits of cloning. We discussed how Russian scientists cloned a cow to produce lactose-free milk.

I hope, you will like this article and find it informative.

Kindly do share and comment on your thoughts about this article below. Thanks 

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