RAS question
Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was created in which year?
Correct answer: (A) 1996.
Dolly the sheep was created in 1996 as the first mammal cloned from a mature somatic cell taken from an adult animal.
Explanation
Dolly was created in 1996, which is why option A is correct. She was a sheep cloned at the Roslin Institute in Scotland by Ian Wilmut using somatic cell nuclear transfer. NHGRI supports the key science point: 1996 marked the first successful cloning of a mammal from a mature, adult somatic cell, and Dolly was produced from an udder cell of a six-year-old sheep. This mattered because it showed that a specialised adult cell could be reprogrammed to develop into a new organism. The correct focus is therefore the landmark year of reproductive cloning, not a later genetics milestone.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) 1990 is too early, because Dolly's cloning from an adult somatic cell occurred in 1996.
- (C) 2003 is not Dolly's creation year; 2003 is associated with completion of the Human Genome Project, a different biotechnology milestone.
- (D) 2000 is after Dolly had already been created, since the Dolly cloning milestone belongs to 1996.
Concept
This tests biotechnology within Science and Technology, especially cloning and somatic cell nuclear transfer. RAS often asks such landmark years because they connect a factual date with the underlying scientific principle.