ID :
188302
Tue, 06/14/2011 - 02:25
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/188302
The shortlink copeid
Cloning powerhouse
(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on June 14)
Korea is an indisputable powerhouse at least in the cloning of animals. The nation was the first in cloning dogs and wolves in 2005 and 2007. It has also succeeded in cloning cats, cows and fish. Now the country has become the first country in the cloning of a black cow with ultra-fast frozen embryos. This breakthrough has set the stage for mass-producing the indigenous cattle.
A Jeju University team succeeded in removing somatic cells from a dead cow, inserting them into denuclearized eggs to create embryos through in vitro fertilization. They froze the embryos at minus 196 degrees Celsius, and kept them for three years before thawing and implanting them into the womb of a surrogate mother last October for the delivery of a baby cow through natural birth.
DNA testing showed that the calf has the same genetic blueprint as the original dead cow.
Three years ago, the scientists succeeded in replicating a female black cow which died at the age of 14 with fresh embryos.
Now Korea is capable of cloning a cow and possibly other animals following their deaths.
This freeze-and-thaw method has a high-success rate of 80-90 percent in reproduction. But researchers must freeze them in 15 minutes and thaw them in a minute. In the past, it took two to five hours to freeze the embryo, and this process had a success rate of less than 50 percent. Their spawning equipment has also become cheaper.
Replicating animals is fundamentally different from cloning humans. Many scientists worldwide are pushing for reproducing monkeys as part of conquering techniques for replicating all animals.
Following the Hwang Woo-suk scandal in 2005, the public has been cynical about cloning. But Korean scientists are ahead of their global peers in animal cloning. The potential market is enormous. Now is the time the Korean government to expand budgets for these projects.
(END)
Korea is an indisputable powerhouse at least in the cloning of animals. The nation was the first in cloning dogs and wolves in 2005 and 2007. It has also succeeded in cloning cats, cows and fish. Now the country has become the first country in the cloning of a black cow with ultra-fast frozen embryos. This breakthrough has set the stage for mass-producing the indigenous cattle.
A Jeju University team succeeded in removing somatic cells from a dead cow, inserting them into denuclearized eggs to create embryos through in vitro fertilization. They froze the embryos at minus 196 degrees Celsius, and kept them for three years before thawing and implanting them into the womb of a surrogate mother last October for the delivery of a baby cow through natural birth.
DNA testing showed that the calf has the same genetic blueprint as the original dead cow.
Three years ago, the scientists succeeded in replicating a female black cow which died at the age of 14 with fresh embryos.
Now Korea is capable of cloning a cow and possibly other animals following their deaths.
This freeze-and-thaw method has a high-success rate of 80-90 percent in reproduction. But researchers must freeze them in 15 minutes and thaw them in a minute. In the past, it took two to five hours to freeze the embryo, and this process had a success rate of less than 50 percent. Their spawning equipment has also become cheaper.
Replicating animals is fundamentally different from cloning humans. Many scientists worldwide are pushing for reproducing monkeys as part of conquering techniques for replicating all animals.
Following the Hwang Woo-suk scandal in 2005, the public has been cynical about cloning. But Korean scientists are ahead of their global peers in animal cloning. The potential market is enormous. Now is the time the Korean government to expand budgets for these projects.
(END)
