Status message
Apply today for the HHMI BioInteractive Ambassador Academy! The Academy is a multi-year professional development experience designed to support evidence-based teaching practices. We’re looking for educators with diverse backgrounds and teaching contexts who are committed to centering equity in their classrooms.Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (Schematic)
Topic
Resource Type
Duration
00:00:52Description
This animation shows how somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) creates an embryo from an egg cell and a body cell.
During SCNT, scientists remove the nucleus from a healthy egg cell. They then transplant a nucleus from another cell into the egg cell. The resulting embryo can be used to create a cloned organism (reproductive cloning), or to generate embryonic stem cells that genetically match the nucleus donor (therapeutic cloning). The animation illustrates an example of cloning with a skin cell nucleus donor.
This animation is a clip from a 2006 Holiday Lecture Series, Potent Biology: Stem Cells, Cloning, and Regeneration. Depending on students’ background, it may be helpful to pause the animation at various points to discuss different steps in the SCNT process.
Key Terms
blastocyst, cell division, cloning, embryo, embryonic stem cell, laboratory technique, nucleus, oocyte
Terms of Use
Please see the Terms of Use for information on how this resource can be used.