What is the original version of a cloned organism called?

February 21, 2016 7:47 AM

If I clone my cat, I would have two cats: CatCreatedTheUsualWay and CatCreatedThroughCloning. Is there a term for the original version?

If CatCreatedThroughCloning is refered to as the "clone", then what is CatCreatedTheUsualWay referred to as? The "original"? The "source"?

And what would the property of being-a-clone or not-being-a-clone called? If I had a database where I kept track of which cats were clones and which weren't, what would this field be called? "CloneStatus?" "DNA Source?"

CAT TABLE

ID: 1
Name: Fluffy
Color: orange
Legs: 4
CloneStatus: Original

ID: 2
Name: Fluffy2
Color: orange
Legs: 4
CloneStatus: Clone

posted by SuperSquirrel to Science & Nature (20 answers total)

The database naming question solves itself:

ID: 1
Name: Fluffy
Color: orange
Legs: 4
ClonedFromID: NULL

ID: 2
Name: Fluffy2
Color: orange
Legs: 4
ClonedFromID: 1
posted by nicwolff at 8:17 AM on February 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Once upon a time, the clone was all the individuals collectively. All the Lintillas in the Hitchhikers Guide were a clone. There was no way of distinguishing the first one that all the others were cloned from, except that it was older. This implies that your question doesn't have an answer yet. I suspect it soon will have, and the answer will be as your CloneStatus suggests.
This didn't matter much back in the days when a clone of anything was plants, because there generally isn't much need to tell two banana plants apart. It will matter more if pets are cloned and hugely if human beings are ever cloned.
On preview, I agree with nicwolff because his solution is extensible to three individuals or more.
posted by Logophiliac at 8:21 AM on February 21, 2016

In Lois Bujold's Mirror Dance, the word is "progenitor".
posted by Bruce H. at 8:32 AM on February 21, 2016 [4 favorites]

IAMA Biologist. "Progenitor" is first the word that came to mind. "Ancestor" or "parental" would also not be inaccurate, though those also carry alternative interpretations that you probably don't want here.
posted by chrisamiller at 8:58 AM on February 21, 2016

"Donor" could work too.
posted by flabdablet at 8:58 AM on February 21, 2016

Also, when talking about vegetative propagation of plants, the plant the cuttings are taken from is generally called the "mother" or "parent" plant.
posted by flabdablet at 9:01 AM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

On Orphan Black they just call it the [project name] Original.
posted by oxisos at 9:08 AM on February 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

I've heard the original referred to as "prime" in a number of different films/shows.
posted by melissasaurus at 9:12 AM on February 21, 2016 [9 favorites]

'Master cat' has a nice sinister ring to it.
posted by run"monty at 10:00 AM on February 21, 2016 [6 favorites]

Stross uses Template in Saturn's children to designate an original AI of which copies are made.
posted by Mitheral at 10:10 AM on February 21, 2016

"Donor" could work too.

I don't know why you'd say that when you could say "clone donor" instead. Try it!
posted by aubilenon at 10:12 AM on February 21, 2016

PARENT is often used in coding/db.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:13 AM on February 21, 2016

"Eve" is one term for a female progenitor of clones that has come up in sci-fi.
posted by limeonaire at 11:36 AM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

In my (admittedly very silly) novel about cloning, the original individual was called the alpha.
posted by Mchelly at 12:58 PM on February 21, 2016

In City of Lost Children, he's called "The Original".
posted by Brittanie at 1:20 PM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

I don't think words like "progenitor" or "donor" really fit -- they imply that the organism has been cloned, whereas I think you want a word that implies that the organism is not a clone (without making a judgement on whether the organism has been cloned yet).

I vote for "original" or "natural" in terms of terminology that would fit your original schema, but really like nicwolff's way of the schema in a more relationship-oriented way -- it only implies original/cloned status, and also allows for clones-of-clones.
posted by snap, crackle and pop at 3:25 PM on February 21, 2016

Don't know about animals, but in horticulture the word is "ortet": the original plant from which the members of a clone have descended. The word for the members of a clone is "ramet"
posted by ambulocetus at 7:52 PM on February 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

The word "clone" was originally a horticultural term and comes from κλών, a Greek word that means a cutting or a twig. Since we don't have a word that means "something from which clones have been made", I suggest that you create one along similar lines. The English word corresponding to the Greek word for "root" is "rhizome", which is hard to spell and sounds a bit funny; how about "radix"? It's Latin; and one of its meanings is a source, or origin.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:09 AM on February 22, 2016

I agree that "progenitor" is the best term for the parent of a clone. However, your question seems to ask for two slightly different things: a term for the "original version" of a clone, which "progenitor" fits nicely; and a term for the property of not-being-a-clone, for which I don't know a common term. Also, "progenitor" is defined primarily by the relationship to the clone, so if you clone Fluffy to get Fluffy2, and then clone Fluffy2 to get Fluffy3, then Fluffy2 is a clone of Fluffy and the progenitor of Fluffy3.

If you want a term to describe whether an animal is the result of cloning or not, the most obvious is probably just "clone" vs "non-clone". If you'd like a neologism for non-clone, how about "gametogene": "gameto-" = gametes (from Ancient Greek for "marriage"), the sperm and ova; "-gene" = "born", so having the sense of "born from sexual reproduction" as opposed to cloning.

As far as database field/value naming, you could go with something like "Provenance: cloning" or "Provenance: fertilization".
posted by biogeo at 9:42 AM on February 22, 2016

Prototype
posted by blue_wardrobe at 10:10 AM on February 22, 2016 [1 favorite]