mjfasmb <mjfasmb at fs1.ce.umist.ac.uk> wrote:
>Surely patterns of transcription can be stably maintained without
>having to invoke some change in the methylation state of the DNA ?
>Such patterns might, given the right environmental cues, alter to
>assume a new expression-pattern (attractor ?), during progression
>from embryo to adult, but needn't be the product of physically altering
>the DNA. Resetting to some basal / default expression pattern either
>through mating or electric shock (I seem to remember that's what the
>Rosalin people did) would then suffice to produce a viable clone...
>>MGB
>x
Your arguments make a lot of sense. I'd like to know, though, were
Dolly's telomeres (or Hayflick divisions) restored to those of a newborn
lamb? It would be easy to find that out; just compare number of remaining
divisions (and length of telomeres) of sheep progenitor with that of lamb
clone. If the telomeres and remaining divisions were restored by cloning
that would imply that rejuvenation of adult cells is possible.
Brian Rowley
