What is the application of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Technology?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Reproductive cloning of animals
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) is the technique used for reproductive cloning of animals. The nucleus of an ordinary body (somatic) cell is placed into an egg cell whose own nucleus has been removed, and the egg develops into an animal genetically identical to the donor.
- ✓ (c) Dolly the sheep (1997), the most famous cloned animal, was made this way. In India, NDRI Karnal has used a hand-guided version of the method to clone buffalo calves.
- ✗ (a) Biolarvicides are biological agents used to kill mosquito larvae. They have no link with moving cell nuclei.
- ✗ (b) Biodegradable plastics are made from natural or microbial polymers through chemistry and fermentation, not by nuclear transfer.
- ✗ (d) SCNT copies the donor's genome, including any inherited fault; it does not make an organism disease-free.
Remember · SCNT = nucleus of a body cell put into an enucleated egg. It is the method of reproductive cloning, as with Dolly the sheep.
Sources
- US National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH): Cloning Fact Sheet ↗ “They then transfer the DNA of the donor animal's somatic cell into an egg cell, or oocyte, that has had its own DNA-containing nucleus removed.”
- ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal: Animal Biotechnology ↗ · reference work “Rajat was produced through Hand-guided cloning using somatic cells isolated from the frozen-thawed semen of a highly ranked progeny-tested Murrah buffalo bull”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·