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This may seem weird, but it's a random thought I had today.
A woman's DNA is inserted into an egg that is not her own. It is then fertilized by an unknown male donor and the resulting embryo is carried to term by a surrogate.
Would the resulting child be considered a clone or offspring?

2007-05-03 15:07:46 · 1 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics Biology

1 answers

The woman's DNA would have to be from a gamete if it is going into an egg that is going to be fertilized.

In cloning, a complete set of DNA from one organism is inserted into an egg, and no fertilization is necessary. The offspring in this case is a clone, genetically identical to the donor of the nucleus.

If DNA from a gamete is put into an egg (which doesn't make much sense because you might as well just take the woman's egg in the first place) and the egg is fertilized, the offspring is not a clone.

I think the term offspring can be applied to the resulting organism whether it is a clone or a result of fertilization.

2007-05-03 15:13:28 · answer #1 · answered by ecolink 7 · 1 0

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