Chapter 5, Problem 9CONQ

As described in Chapter 22, researchers have been able to clone mammals by fusing a cell having a diploid nucleus (i.e., a somatic cell) with an egg that has had its nucleus removed.

A. With regard to maternal effect genes, would the phenotype of such a cloned animal be determined by the animal that donated the egg or by the animal that donated the somatic cell? Explain.

B. Would the cloned animal inherit extranuclear traits from the animal that donated the egg or from the animal that donated the somatic cell? Explain.

C. In what ways would you expect this cloned animal to be similar to or different from the animal that donated the somatic cell? Is it fair to call such an animal a clone of the animal that donated the diploid nucleus?