From: Damien Broderick (damien@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Thu May 27 1999 - 15:30:04 MDT
>Scientists: Cloned sheep Dolly has 'old' DNA
> May 26, 1999
>Web posted at: 6:10 p.m. EDT (2210 GMT)
>LONDON (Reuters) --
>The research could be particularly important in sequential cloning --
>cloning a clone of a clone -- which could lead to progressive shortening
>of telomeres.
>But Coleman and his colleagues said problems, if they do arise, may not
>be insurmountable. Scientists can use embryonic cells for cloning and
>could also cut the cell time in culture which could reduce telomere
>shortening.
Or - d'oh! - telomerase could be used to normalize the chromosomes before
ignition and liftoff. Or an hTERT package (human telomerase reverse
transcriptase, the catalytic component of telomerase) could be inveigled in
to *ensure* that telomerase stays active and kicking in all cells in the
new beastie, which might therefore become immortal at a blow - until it
dies of cancer, of course. But we need to fix cancers anyway...
Funny how these just-next-step extrapolations are always missing from news
reports (and possibly from the mouths of cautious scientists).
Damien Broderick
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