genetics

When the world’s first cloned cat appeared in 2002, headline writers were jumping for joy. The phrase ‘copy-cat’ turned up in hundreds of publications all over the world.

To many they’re vermin, and less salubrious neighbourhoods can be overcome by them. So it might seem strange that scientists would want to clone a rat. But Ralph’s creation was a significant achievement.

Snuppy, the world’s first cloned dog was created by South Korean scientists in 2005. In May 2008 the Afghan hound became a father after a canine breeding programme that involved only cloned canines.

Unveiled in Italy in 2003, Prometea was the world’s first cloned horse. The female foal was the only one to survive to birth out of 841 embryos that were created.

It’s one of life’s most irritating problems - the common cold. No matter what drugs we throw it at, it just doesn’t seem to go away. Well its days may be numbered with the new understanding of the genetics of human rhinovirus (HRV).

Club foot is a common birth defect where one or both feet point downwards and inwards. A genetic basis has often been mooted, but now for the first time a gene has been discovered that has been linked to the condition.

How did the discovery of the structure of DNA come about, and what steps led to this discovery?

Currently, testing for genetic disorders can only identify a very small percentage of the 15,000 known ones. However, a new test is on the horizon that has the potential to screen for nearly every kind of genetic disease.

Scientists have uncovered a critical genetic switch that helps cells to survive when they are deprived of oxygen. Although the work was carried out in fruit flies there could be an immediate application in humans where cells and tissues have been deprived of oxygen because of disease.

Further investigations of part of a plant genome have uncovered a gene that helps plants to survive extremes of heat. The finding could help farmers to breed crops that will flourish in warmer climates.