Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Dog finally cloned
Scientists in South Korea have produced the first dog clones, they report in Nature magazine this week.
One of the puppies died soon after birth but the other, an Afghan hound named Snuppy, is still doing well after 16 weeks, the researchers say.
Snuppy, whose name stands for Seoul National University puppy, was made from a cell taken from the ear of a three-year-old male Afghan hound.
Although many other animals have been successfully cloned, dogs are notoriously difficult: the South Korean team only obtained three pregnancies from more than 1,000 embryo transfers into 123 recipients.
Of these, one miscarried and one died soon after birth; only Snuppy remains.
Scientists hope dog clones will help them understand and treat a range of serious human diseases.
Well done to the scientists involved. What I want to know though is will we eventually be able to get clone versions of Lassie? Now that would be impressive!
One of the puppies died soon after birth but the other, an Afghan hound named Snuppy, is still doing well after 16 weeks, the researchers say.
Snuppy, whose name stands for Seoul National University puppy, was made from a cell taken from the ear of a three-year-old male Afghan hound.
Although many other animals have been successfully cloned, dogs are notoriously difficult: the South Korean team only obtained three pregnancies from more than 1,000 embryo transfers into 123 recipients.
Of these, one miscarried and one died soon after birth; only Snuppy remains.
Scientists hope dog clones will help them understand and treat a range of serious human diseases.
Well done to the scientists involved. What I want to know though is will we eventually be able to get clone versions of Lassie? Now that would be impressive!
# posted by United Irelander @ 7:38 PM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
