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USA – MORE EFFICIENT CLONING CLAIM
Scientists find more efficient cloning method
1 October, 2006. Source: Reuters, Maggie Fox via AnimalNet
WASHINGTON - U.S. researchers were cited as saying on Sunday they had found a more efficient way to clone mice, and said their experiment solved a basic question about cloning science -- whether it truly is possible to clone animals from mature cells.
Dr. Jerry Yang of the University of Connecticut was cited as noting that cloning is still very difficult to do and that only about 2 or 3 out of 100 tries generally works, adding, "This was seen as circumstantial evidence that it was stem-like cells that succeeded in cloning. The question is important because the success rate for reproductive cloning is still quite low."
Yang, Dr. Tao Cheng, of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues cloned mice using fully differentiated, or mature, white blood cells called granulocytes.
Writing in the November issue of Nature Genetics, they said they used somatic cell nuclear transfer, in which the nucleus from a cell of the animal to be cloned is injected into an egg whose nucleus has been removed.
This process works very poorly in mice and usually a two-step procedure is needed -- first growing tiny embryos, then removing their embryonic stem cells to generate mouse pups.
Yang's team tried cloning using the blood cells at various levels of development -- from the stem cells stage through full maturity, called full differentiation.
IRAN – FIRST CLONED SHEEP BORN
Iran announces birth of first live cloned sheep
30 September, 2006. Source: Agence France Presse
TEHRAN - Iranian scientists on Saturday announced the birth of the Islamic republic's first cloned sheep to survive delivery, the state-run IRNA news agency
reported.
"The sheep was born at the Rouyan research centre in (the central city of) Isfahan at 3:00 am (2330 GMT)," said Hamid Gourabie, the head of the institute. "She is
currently under medical supervision."
Iran in July announced the birth of its first cloned sheep, but the animal died only a few minutes into life from respiratory problems. This time it appears that the cloned sheep has managed to survive.
The Iranian scientists used the same methods that produced Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal whose birth 10 years ago in Scotland caused a global sensation.
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