Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in Mammals (1938-2013)

Abstract

In the second half of the twentieth century, scientists learned how to clone organisms in some species of mammals. Scientists have applied somatic cell nuclear transfer to clone human and mammalian embryos as a means to produce stem cells for laboratory and medical use. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a technology applied in cloning, stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Somatic cells are cells that have gone through the differentiation process and are not germ cells. Somatic cells donate their nuclei, which scientists transplant into eggs after removing their nucleuses (enucleated eggs). Therefore, in SCNT, scientists replace the nucleus in an egg cell with the nucleus from a somatic cell.