Scientists Re-cloning of first dog successful

A team of researchers with Seoul National University, Michigan State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has re-cloned the first dog to be cloned.

In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports_, the group describes duplicating the clone and offers an update on how the dogs are doing.

The story started with Tai, a normal Afghan hound. The team cloned him by inserting his cells into the eggs of a female donor after removing the original nucleus and then implanting them in the female's uterus. By all accounts, he lived a normal dog life on the campus of Seoul National University, which gave his name: Snuppy.

At the age of five, researchers there collected stem cells from Snuppy and used them to inseminate other females. In all, 94 embryos were implanted, which led to four successful pregnancies and births. Shortly thereafter, one of the puppies died, leaving three clones of the cloned dog Snuppy.

The researchers wrote a paper describing their results, noting that the dogs, which were nine months old at the time, seemed to be healthy and normal. They have only now published that paper.

The purpose of the research is to learn more about the viability of cloning animals. Despite a lot of research, scientists still do not know for sure if cloned animals suffer unknown birth defects, or if their lifespans are shorter than normal animals.

There is a growing consensus, however, that cloning results in neither. A lot of animals have been cloned and studied, and thus far, there is little to no evidence indicating that the cloning process introduces flaws.

UCJ, UNILORIN.