Reproductive Technologies and their effect on evolution/natural selection

[dou0014]

Hey. 
How do cloning, Gene therapy, artificial insemination and stem cells affect natural selection and evolutionary processes.

[nubs]

They allow some people (who otherwise might not be able to survive without things like gene therapy etc) to live and not be taken by natural selection.
Just a guess

[lexitu]

- Allow for the insertion of new alleles and/or genes into a gene pool
- As Nirbaan said they can potentially allow individuals not able to produce viable offspring (or just not able to survive) to do so, therefore increasing certain allele frequencies
- May allow individuals with artificially modified genetic material to outcompete others and therefore alter the course of evolution

Those are just some of the many possibilities. Admittedly I am a bit rusty in this area (we're starting it soon at uni) but I hope I have helped

[dou0014]

I have
Cloning:
Evolution relies on continuous mixing and matching of genes to keep the gene pool alive.  Cloning would change the incidence of particular alleles (allele frequencies) in populations which results in a lack of variation and genetic diversity.
- Limits the type of offspring produced

Gene Therapy
- May allow those individuals with artificially modified genetic material to out compete others and therefore alter the course of evolution
- Allows the insertion of new genes into the gene pool
- Allow those who were not 'naturally selected' to survive
- Medical advances or genetic manipulation mean that modern humans are interfering in their own selection to the extent that natural selection no longer operates.

Artificial Insemination
- Specific alleles of a few selected genes would become predominant in the herd and alternative alleles of the gene concerned would be lost
- Potentially valuable alleles may be lost from genetic composition of the herd because other inherited features are ignored.
- Widespread use of AI, using a limited number of stud animals can result in the loss of genetic variation from the genetic composition from that species

Not so sure about Stem cells.
- maybe just the same about technological advancement stopping natural selection operating. And people who should have died from diseases are able to survive.