What is the difference between a test tube baby and cloning?

Answer 1

Difference Between a Test Tube and Cloned BabyA test tube baby is when an egg is removed from a woman and sperm from and man, and the egg is fertilized outside that mother's body, i.e. in a test-tube. Cloning may be carried out in a test tube, but it is the copying or duplicating of cells. If something is cloned, there will be two of them and they will be genetically identical.

• In cloning, there is no sperm cell used in the process. The scientists remove the nucleus of the egg cell and and "fertilize" it with another nucleus from a growing somatic cell, such as a liver cell. Using chemicals or a mild electric shock, the egg is forced to divide, creating an embryo. This fusion allows an exact DNA duplicate of the mother organism. A clone does not come out fully-grown like in the Science Fiction movies. It has to go through the same life stages as the original organism it was copied from. The egg and donor cell are usually taken from the same organism. This allows for an exact copy.

A test tube baby is just an egg fertilized with sperm in vitro. It does not require the nucleus of a cell that is already developed. Once fertilized, it is placed back into the mother, or into a "foster mother" which is a female who carries the fertilized egg in her womb until it is completely developed. wich also makes a test tube baby.

The biggest practical difference is that cloning humans has been impossible so far, and is currently illegal in many countries. Other than identical twins, there are no human clones.

On the other hand, "test tube baby" produced by assisted reproductive technology (ART) has been possible since 1978 (1974?).

"CDC estimates that ART accounts for slightly more than 1% of total U.S. births." ( http://www.cdc.gov/ART/ART2006/section1.htm ).