Why cannot we clone viruses?

 

 

Cloning research is actively flourishing due to its various usages in several fields like industry, medicine, science, pharmacology, etc. cloning is the production of second generation which is identical to the parent in the phenotype and the genotype of the organism. Cloning in laboratories was stimulated by the cloning of bacteria as they are reproducing asexually by duplicating its genetic material and organelles to produce two daughter cells that are typically identical to the parent cell. Any cell can be cloned, except viruses, this article will be handling the reasons behind this.

Cloning already happens in nature, from primitive organisms like bacteria as it is mentioned above to the higher ones like plants. Some Plants can clone itself like tubers, this type of plants’ stem can be reproducing an entire new identical organism in its favorable conditions, like potatoes. This happens due to the existence of the meristem in the potato as it has millions of undifferentiated cells that have the capability of specializing into any type of cell. Which impress the researchers to do the same at the laboratory with providing the same favorable conditions. Nutrients and chemicals like catalysts and hormones and carbon source like sugar for energy production were made as a liquid added to it agar compound. It is a natural gelatin-like compound extracted from aquatic creatures characterized by the liquifying in high temperature and solidifying at low temperature uniting any other dissolved materials in it like the nutrients and the chemicals. Then this hot liquid poured in a dish called petri dish to cool down and solidified. This is called solid medium used mainly to produce clones of plants and microbes. Another type is liquid medium used mainly for microbial activation. This process of producing plant clones in labs called tissue culture for animal tissue production of cell lines called cell culture. Therefore, any medium filled with the needed nutrients, chemicals and hormones can group animal cell lines, entire plant, colonies of different microbial. It is the same principles depending on the nourishment type of the organism except for the viruses.

 

Viruses cannot be cloned or cultured in the laboratory as it is not a living organism. These organisms developed as they consumed the nutrients found in the medium which give their bodies energy to grow up and differentiate. While the virus does not eat, drink, reproduce. Viruses are carriers for genetic material only if it is outside the host, when it enters the host and find the protein spike correspondent which may found on the surface of a liver cell for example. It enters the cell and release its genetic material, this genetic material transfers to the DNA of the cell, invade it and start to express itself as a normal gene. The viral genes worked in the cell using the cell proteins and transcription and translation environment and produce the structure of the virus. Which it consists of three parts a capsid like a shield made of proteins to occupy the genetic material, spikes the keys for the cell’s membranes and the genetic material which maybe double stranded or single stranded DNA or RNA.  till the transformation of the liver cell into the virus factory. Producing millions of complete viruses inside the cell till it explodes and every new virus repeat the same procedure with another cell.  This why viruses are so dangerous they cannot be cured by antibiotics, hard to be studied, only can be cloned inside a living host. As they don’t reproduce they only increase in number through their invasion to their specific type of cells depending on their spikes and cell receptors.