The Sisters, clones of Misaka Mikoto and the most prominent case of cloning in the Toaru series.
Cloning (クローニング Kurōningu?) is the process of creating a genetically identical copy, a clone (クローン Kurōn?), of a source organism.
Etymology[]
The term 'clone' was derived from Ancient Greek κλών/klōn (meaning "twig"), referencing to the process where a new plant can be created from a twig of an existing one.
Principles[]
Cloning is the process of using the genetic material (DNA) of a source organism to produce a genetically identical organism, known as a clone.
Cell division in an egg cell
The method generally used when artificially cloning an animal organism is a process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The process requires a viable somatic cell from the organism to be cloned and an unfertilized egg cells, with its cell nucleus (containing DNA) removed. The cell nucleus is removed from the somatic cell and inserted into the egg cell. Stimulation may be provided to get the cell division going. Once it is ready, it is either implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother or (as in the case of the Sisters), grown within a special cultivation tank filled with a culture fluid.[1][2][3]
Given the ramifications of human cloning, ethical and otherwise, it is illegal under international law.[4][5][6][7][citation needed] Academy City supposedly abides by these laws,[4][5][citation needed] though the city has actually pursued and carried out human cloning in secret, as shown with the Sisters.[8][citation needed]
An ancient variation of cloning used in horticulture for artificially propagating plants (from which the term derives its name), involves taking a viable cutting from a plant (often a piece of the stem or root, but sometimes a piece of leaf) and placing into a suitable medium, like moist soil, with the cutting growing into a new plant if the conditions are right.
Sisters[]
- Main article: Sisters
The most prominent examples of human cloning are the Sisters, mass-produced clones of Level 5 esper Misaka Mikoto, secretly devised and created as part of the Radio Noise and the Level 6 Shift Projects.
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Cloning tanks containing Sisters
Using Misaka Mikoto's DNA map and somatic cells from a sample of her hair, acquired by researchers under the pretext of applications for treating muscular dystrophy and added to the Bank,[1][2] fertilized egg cells were created via SCNT-based methods and grown within cultivation chambers.[1][2][3] While in the culture fluid, the clones were exposed to a number of drugs, including Zid-02, Riz-13 and Hel-03, in order to stimulate rapid biological development, growing from a zygote to the body of a 14 year old teenager in 14 days.[1][2][9] Released from the containers with the mentality of a newborn infant,[3] Testaments were used to install information into their brains.[1][2][3]
The treatment for stimulating rapid growth and additional adjustments drastically reduced the clones' already shortened lifespan,[1][10][3][Notes 1] such that they would have only had around 1 or 2 years left without further adjustments to eliminate the hormone imbalances resulting from the stimulation and correct the rate of cell division, with a good portion of life span recoverable in this way.[10][9]
While the Sisters are Electromasters like Misaka Mikoto,[citation needed] they are only Level 2-Level 3 as opposed to Level 5,[2][citation needed] with the prediction of them only having a tiny fraction of the original's power resulting in the suspension of the original Radio Noise Project,[2][citation needed] which aimed to mass-produce Level 5 clones for military purposes,[citation needed] with the subsequent repurposing as fodder for Accelerator's development in the Level 6 Shift Project (itself a cover).[citation needed] The brainwave network between the Sisters, the Misaka Network,[citation needed] played a key role in Aleister's Plan,[citation needed] with Last Order (#20001) acting as the control tower.[citation needed] Before the mass-production of the Sisters, a prototype clone (#0), Dolly, was created as part of a pair to test the cloning technology and the shared network,[citation needed] with Full Tuning (#00000) prior to Misaka 1.[11][12][13] At least one older next-generation clone, Misaka Worst, was created for the Third Season prior to its suspension.[14][15][16][17]
Other[]
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This section requires expansion Similar things on the Magic Side Other examples of non-human cloning? Other bio-science projects with similar methods but different from cloning? |
Restaurants in Academy City commonly use cloned meat, and vegetables grown in windowless agricultural buildings.[18][19]
There are a number of biological science projects and creations in Academy City which have involved similarities and similar methods but also key differences from cloning. Examples include the Chemicaloid Project (not cloning an existing person but creating one from scratch),[Respective episode references - Silent Party Arc] and biohacking (rearranging and combining DNA from different life forms to create hybrids).[20]
One of the many inaccurate Urban Legends surrounding the Imaginary Number District, involves a cloning workshop that stored the DNA of great people from around the world and had analyzed their genetics to the point that they could create as many geniuses as needed at the push of a button.[1] While Academy City is fully capable of human cloning,[8][citation needed] the actual Clone Dolly Workshop (aside from being tasked with the prototype Sister clone Dolly),[21][22][23][Notes 1] while working to produce (or procure) geniuses, mainly focused on other methods.[21][22][23]
The practice of cloning is a scientific one and as such restricted to the Science Side, however there are approximate equivalents, with some similarities yet different methods, on the Magic Side for producing an organism from source material or reproducing an individual.[References for respective methods][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Cloning has been referred to in various explanations and analogies regarding how magicians can create a soul without fully understanding the nature and mechanisms of the soul.[References for all mentions]
Background[]
Although a variant for artificially propagating plants from cuttings has long been used in horticulture, the development of methods for artificially cloning organisms came about in the 20th century, with the groundwork being laid in the first half and actual successes in cloning non-human organisms in the second half. Although it had not been carried out, the possibilities and ramifications of human cloning, ethical and otherwise, led to international laws being passed forbidding attempts to clone humans.
However, within a few years before the events of the series, plans were enacted in Academy City to mass-produce human clones,[citation needed] using a genetic sample and DNA map from the young Level 5 candidate Misaka Mikoto, under the pretext of work to cure muscular dystrophy.[citation needed] The Radio Noise Project was intended to mass-produce Level 5 clones for military purposes,[citation needed] though predictions of the clones only possessing a tiny fraction of the original's power would lead to plans to instead produce and use clones as experimental fodder for Accelerator's development in the Level 6 Shift Project,[citation needed] both cover for a more hidden role as part of Aleister's plan.[citation needed] A prototype clone, Dolly,[citation needed] was first created to test the cloning technology and brainwave networking,[citation needed] with the Clone Dolly Workshop being tasked with monitoring her,[citation needed] resulting in the clone meeting future Level 5 Shokuhou Misaki before her death.[citation needed] After Full Tuning,[11][12] production began on the clones intended to be killed by Accelerator, starting with Misaka 1,[13][citation needed] and continued until the events of the series,[citation needed] with over 20,000 being created in all.[citation needed]
Chronology[]
Toaru Majutsu no Index[]
Sisters Arc[]
- Main article: Sisters Arc
Several of the Sisters during the Level 6 Shift Project, following Misaka 10031's death
Human cloning was at the heart of the events surrounding the events surrounding the Level 6 Shift Project, which involved the mass-produced clones of Misaka Mikoto, the Sisters.[8]
Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume SS2[]
- Main article: Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume SS2
During the Gemstone Mining incident, after Kumokawa Seria approached Heaven Canceller and mobilized the Sisters to rescue the captured Gemstones around the world, George Kingdom received reports of the identical girls and realized their nature as he was contacted by Kumokawa. After a brief conversation, in which she referenced to the illegality of human cloning, she had him promptly silenced through assassination by Kinuhata Saiai.[5] News also reached Mikoto's father Misaka Tabigake, prompting a phone call to Board Chairman Aleister.[5]
World War III Arc[]
- Main article: World War III Arc
At least one Third Season clone, Misaka Worst, had been produced at the time of World War III, prior to the project's apparent suspension.[14][15][16][17]
Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index[]
Coronzon Arc[]
- Main article: Coronzon Arc
Academy City's cloning technology was referenced (along with Micro Cosmos indirectly) during the discussion between Mina Mathers and Heaven Canceller about the methods needed to give Lilith Crowley a physical body.[31] While looking at the newspapers in Qliphah Puzzle 545's dress, which appear differently to different people, Accelerator saw condemnatory articles about Academy City's human cloning.[32]
Kamijou Arc[]
- Main article: Kamijou Arc
When using the Flower Resistance during his battle with Elizard, Accelerator referred to how cloning and genetic manipulation wasn't exclusive to animals and with selective breeding, was a lot more common with plants.[33]
Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index[]
Los Angeles Arc[]
- Main article: Los Angeles Arc
On December 26th, on the same day as the joint Academy City-Anglican counterattack against R&C Occultics in Los Angeles, Accelerator went on trial for the clone killings in the Level 6 Shift Project, intending to draw public scorn onto himself to distract people from any rejection towards the remaining clones.[34] However, many people in the city for whom a guilty verdict and admitting to the clone experiment would be inconvenient, continued to deny his claims and tried to have the prosecution frame Accelerator as mentally unstable so his testimony and reports could be thrown out.[34]
Following a conversation between Accelerator and Dion Fortune which touched upon giving the clones true acceptance and a place in the world,[34] the Sisters used information from the British government to come to the aid of Kamijou Touma who was fighting in Los Angeles to save the trapped population who had fallen victim to Citrinitas and Melzabeth Grocery from being framed for the crime, willingly exposing themselves to the world in the process.[7] The display of their humanity and actions to help others,[7][35] along with voices of support from various people such as President Roberto Katze,[35][36] overshadowing any who would denounce or call for their disposal,[34][35][36] ultimately led to the clones themselves generally being received favorably by the world.[37]
Post-Handcuffs Arc[]
- Main article: Post-Handcuffs Arc
|
This section requires expansion GT5 - News/Debates[38][39] |
On December 29th, in the wake of the Sisters being revealed to the world and the human rights of the clones being recognized, amidst a period of clone-related debates and other stuff in the news, it was reported that a biochemistry group comprised mostly of college students had just been arrested in Nuremberg, Germany, having allegedly purchased and operated lab equipment in order to manipulate human DNA and create a human with less than 50% water content.[38] The press officer involved apparently strongly denied rumors of the unofficial cooperation of Academy City in the speedy arrest and said that people must pay careful attention to the changes in science ethics in academia.[38]
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun[]
Sisters Arc[]
- Main article: Sisters Arc
|
This section requires expansion Decide how to word differently from the Index entry |
Human cloning was at the heart of the events surrounding the events surrounding the Level 6 Shift Project, which involved the mass-produced clones of Misaka Mikoto, the Sisters.
Dream Ranker Arc[]
- Main article: Dream Ranker Arc
While talking with Misaka Mikoto about the cyborg experiment Kuriba Ryouko was involved in, her mechanical doppelganger and the supposed "creation of a soul", asking her help in investigating, Shokuhou Misaki remarked that if a use was found for the experiment there was the possibility of the scientists trying to confirm their results with unwilling test subjects (given few would be willing to be cut up like Kuriba was), such as Child Errors or human clones. After the remark caused a brief electrical discharge from Mikoto, she quickly added that the labor and expense of making a cloning facility just for this experiment wouldn't be worth it.[40][41]
Trivia[]
- Given the nature as a copy, the term 'clone' is sometimes used in other contexts in reference to general doubles, decoys and non-genetic copies, though these don't fit the definition of 'clone' as a genetic copy.
- In Toaru Majutsu no Index Struggle Battle, there is an esper-related ability/phenomena known as AIM Clone.
External Links[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dolly the sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell using the nuclear transfer process, born in 1996 and dying in 2003 (with the first volume of Toaru Majutsu no Index being released in 2004). When she was euthanized, due to a progressive lung disease and severe arthritis, Dolly was six and a half years old (a Finn Dorset sheep having a life expectancy of 11-12 years). Although scientists believed that this was unconnected to the cloning process (with other sheep in the same flock dying of the same disease and it being a danger for sheep kept indoors, with Dolly having to sleep inside for security), there was press speculation in that a contributing factor in her early death was being born with a genetic age of six (the same as the sheep from which was cloned) or experiencing advanced aging - partially based on the finding that Dolly's telomeres were short, typically a result of aging. The idea of degeneration and accelerated aging in clones has been featured in various works of fiction. In 2016, a study of several cloned sheep including four from the same cell line as Dolly, found no defects or evidence of detrimental long-term effects from the cloning process, with the four being alive and relatively healthy at the age of nine.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 03 Chapter 2 Part 8
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 020
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 03 Chapter 3 Part 2
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume SS2 Chapter 22
- ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 04 Chapter 3 Part 8
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 04 Chapter 3 Part 10
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 03
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S Episode 17
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 03 Epilogue
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume SS2 Chapter 13
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ogino Kentarou (Railgun editor), Q&A. Archived from the original. Retrieved on 23 February 2020.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 037
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 20 Chapter 3 Part 2
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 20 Chapter 3 Part 7
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 22 Epilogue
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 03 Chapter 1 Part 7
- ↑ Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 11 Prologue
- ↑ Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 14 Chapter 2 Part 9
- ↑ Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Biohacker Chapter 1
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 059
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 060
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 061
- ↑ Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 02 Chapter 2 Part 6
- ↑ Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Kanzaki Chapter 4 Part 2
- ↑ Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 21 Chapter 2 Part 7
- ↑ Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 21 Chapter 3 Part 1
- ↑ Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 21 Chapter 3 Part 3
- ↑ Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 22
- ↑ Toaru Majutsu no Index: Imaginary Fest
- ↑ Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 21 Chapter 2 Part 4
- ↑ Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 21 Chapter 1
- ↑ Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 22 Reverse Chapter 4 Part 11
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 04 Chapter 3 Part 5
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 04 Chapter 3 Part 11
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 04 Chapter 4 Part 2
- ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 04 Epilogue
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 05 Chapter 1 Part 3
- ↑ Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 05 Chapter 1 Part 6
- ↑ Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 086
- ↑ Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T Episode 21