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Dolly was the name given to the world’s first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell, specifically a domestic sheep. She was born on 5 July 1996 at the Roslin Institute in Scotland and lived until 2003. Dolly was a significant breakthrough in the field of genetic engineering and biotechnology, as her creation proved that it is possible to create a genetically identical organism from a single adult cell.

The cloning process used for Dolly was called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). In this method, scientists took the nucleus (which contains DNA) from a cell of an adult sheep’s mammary gland. This nucleus was then inserted into an egg cell from which the original nucleus had been removed. The egg cell, now carrying the adult DNA, was stimulated to divide and develop into an embryo. This embryo was implanted into a surrogate sheep, which gave birth to Dolly.

Dolly was genetically identical to the sheep from which the somatic cell was taken. This experiment demonstrated that specialized adult cells still retain all the genetic information necessary to create a new organism, overturning long-held scientific assumptions about cell differentiation.

Cloning like this has potential applications in:

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  Medicine: Producing genetically identical animals for organ transplantation or research.

  
  


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  Agriculture: Creating animals with desirable traits for farming.

  
  


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  Conservation: Attempting to save endangered species by cloning.

  
  

However, cloning also raised ethical debates about animal welfare, genetic manipulation, and the possibility of human cloning in the future. Dolly lived for six and a half years and developed certain health issues, leading to discussions about the long-term viability of cloned animals.

Dolly remains one of the most famous scientific milestones in biology, symbolizing the possibilities and challenges of modern biotechnology