Timeline of Cloning

In biology, cloning is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms, such  as, bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually.

The cloning of plants is a common practice of mankind since the 5000 BC while the cloning of animals has been dated back to the 1960s. However, the idea of human cloning has not been thought possible until the successful cloning of the first mammal – Dolly, the sheep, 1997. After the cloning of Dolly, several other mammals such as mice and cows have been successfully cloned. Here is a timeline that shows the history of cloning.

Timeline of cloning:

5000 BC – Humans have discovered that to improve the quality of their crops from the best plants.

1866 – George Mendel published “Experiments in Plant Hybridization” which established the basic laws of inheritance, making him known as the “Father of Genetics”.

1869 – DNA from the nuclei of white blood cells is extracted.

1880s – August Weissmann states genetic information of a cell

                would diminish with each cell division.

               Wilhelm Roux confirmed Weismann's theory when he destroyed one cell of a 2-cell frog embryo with a hot needle and only a half-embryo developed.

1902 - Walter Sutton, in "On the Morphology of the Chromosome Group in Brachyotola magna", hypothesized that chromosomes hold the genetic information in the nucleus.

1914 – Hans Spemann performed the first successful near transfer experiments.

1938 – Spemann proposed a “fantastical experiment” to transfer one cell’s nucleus into a egg without a nucleus, providing the basis for subsequent cloning experiments.

1962 - John Gurdon of Oxford University claimed that he had cloned South African frogs from the nucleus of fully differentiated adult intestinal cells.

1969 - James Shapiero and Johnathan Bechwith of Harvard University isolated the first gene and led to the growing power of molecular biologists.

1984 - Steen Willadsen cloned a sheep from embryonic cells. This was the first confirmed case of mammalian cloning by nuclear transfer.

1986 - Steen Willadsen cloned a cow by using differentiated cells extracted from one-week-old embryos.

1986 - Neal First, Randal Prather, and Willard Eyestone of the University of Wisconsin also cloned a cow from embryonic cells.

1990 – Start of the Human Genome Project, an international scientific research project that aims to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up human DNA and also to identify and map the total genes of the human genome from both a human and functional standpoint, it is the largest collaborative biological project.

1996 - Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell cloned the first animal, Dolly the sheep, from adult cells. The cloning of Dolly is one of the most important milestones in the history of animal cloning proving the possibility of cloning adult animals.

1998 – Dolly the sheep gave birth to 3 healthy lambs, which were conceived by natural mating.

2001 - Scientists at Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. announced the birth of a cloned baby bull gaur called Noah, the first endangered animal to be cloned. Although Noah died of an infection unrelated to the cloning procedure, the experiment opened the door to saving endangered species through cloning.