Will clones in the future have belly buttons?

Question

I am talking about clones developed in an evironment outside of the womb.

Most of the answerers appear to believe that belly buttons are not genetic. What makes you so certain that the umbelical cord needs to be there in order for belly buttons to develop. Men having nipples are a case in point.

People like elaynekicksass (answer 19) who think that clones will be grown in human uteresus are overlooking the fact that clones will almost certainly be bred for commercial purposes and that the unnessecary maternal insticts of the proposed mothers of these clones would be a hinderence that could be avoided by scientists/businessmen using aterficial birth chambers.

Answer 1

Yes. The umbilical cord attaches the developing embryo to the placenta and is part of the embryo. After birth the umbilical cord is cut, leaving the umbilicus, or "belly button".

The developing embryo is programmed to produce a placenta and umbilical cord through which the embryo receives oxygen and food and disposes of waste materials and carbon dioxide. As a clone is by definition identical to another being then it too will develop a placenta and umbilical cord. In fact, one of the great challenges of cloning and developing the clone outside the womb will be in finding a means of nourishing the embryo through what will amount to an artificial womb that the placenta must become attached to.

I would imagine that in the first instance clones will implanted in surrogate mothers in order to get round the problem of creating an artificial womb.

In order for the embryo to NOT have a belly button two things must happen:-
1. an alternative method of feeding the embryo must be found
2. the clone must be genetically engineered so as not to produce and umbilical cord and placenta. As clones are by definition genetically identical to their "parents" (whoever donated the cells to be cloned) then any amount of genetic engineering would produce something which was NOT a clone.

Answer 2

good question!! I think what you're really wanting to know is if it's likely that the belly button would develop regardless of how the foetus receives nourishment. If you're taking genetic information from an animal that usually has a placenta, then I guess the whole structure would develop anyway. By that I mean the opening in the foetus and the various blood vessel connections, so yeah I guess there would be some sort of hole there, although if there was no attachment to a placenta that could be damaging to the foetus so maybe that would need to be engineered out. In which case there is some debate about how truly you could say it was a clone.
I'm gonna go with yes (though it might be a bit odd looking).

Answer 3

That's a very interesting question...

I can't see why they would need belly buttons if they're developed outside of a womb though.

Unless scientists plan on constructing a way for the clones to be developed the way normal humans are (via the belly button), the only other reason I could see it would be necessary is to make the clones look like other humans, belly button and all.

If clones are really "identical" then I guess a belly button would be there, even if it serves no purpose.

Answer 4

That's difficult to answer because we do not yet know how to make a human being develop entirely outside of a womb. But, it is probably safe to assume that even if we do figure it out, the emryo will still need to receive nourishment one way or another, since it can't be absorbed through the skin. It may make sense to engineer an umbilical cord type of structure anyway, which would result in belly buttons.

While it may be possible to attach such a structure elsewhere on the body, something tells me we wouldn't do that, for tradition's sake. But even before it gets to that point, we're still a long way from the whole deal.

Answer 5

Clones cannot fully develop outside of a womb.

It doesn't make sense to make an artificial womb to gestate clones when there are millions of uteruses already available.
However, homosapiens will still need placentas to develop and belly buttons would still be formed when the placentas are removed from the babies.

Answer 6

An excellent question.

I would say they still would have belly buttons because while they are developing into a viable baby, they still have to take in nutrients. Where else except through the umbiblical cord? It seems the most efficient way of taking in nutrients. Lungs and the digestive system have yet to develop...

So my answer would have to be yes.

Answer 7

You can call and ask the piercer where you had it done, but usual time frame for changing the original jewelry is 6 weeks. I would be careful swimming with a new piercing though. If you plan on swimming in chlorinated water the chemicals could cause a reaction. Just make sure to rinse well with sterile saline solution afterwards.

Answer 8

of course.. even if they developed outside the womb, an umbilical cord would form naturally as that is the only way a fetus can get the nutrients necessary for growth, and the environment would have to be similar to that of a uterus.

Answer 9

Of course. The clone is born like a normal baby. It actually has to grow in a uterus of a woman who is willing to carry the clone. The clone's fetus doesn't grow in a lab. If the grow in the uterus, they'll have bellybuttons.

Answer 10

if you believe that the humans will be used for commercial purposes for example organ harvesting then i believe no because they will not want to waste the human energy on building unnecessary body parts when the energy could be used to undergo mitosis and create organs etc.