Japan, Russia see chance to clone mammoth

Scientists from Japan and Russia believe it may be possible to clone a mammoth after finding well-preserved bone marrow in a thigh bone recovered from permafrost soil in Siberia, a report said Saturday.

Teams from the Sakha Republic's mammoth museum and Japan's Kinki University will launch fully-fledged joint research next year aiming to recreate the giant mammal, Japan's Kyodo News reported from Yakutsk, Russia.

By replacing the nuclei of egg cells from an elephant with those taken from the mammoth's marrow cells, embryos with mammoth DNA can be produced, Kyodo said, citing the researchers.

The scientists will then plant the embryos into elephant wombs for delivery, as the two species are close relatives, the report said.

Securing nuclei with an undamaged gene is essential for the nucleus transplantation technique, it said.
For scientists involved in the research since the late 1990s, finding nuclei with undamaged mammoth genes has been a challenge. Mammoths became extinct about 10,000 years ago.

But the discovery in August of the well-preserved thigh bone in Siberia has increased the chances of a successful cloning.

Global warming has thawed ground in eastern Russia that is usually almost permanently frozen, leading to the discoveries of a number of frozen mammoths, the report said.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/japan-russia-see-chance-clone-mammoth-143958162.html

Dolly scientist working on cloning Scottish wildcats

A scientist who was involved in cloning Dolly the sheep 15 years ago has started work on a new technique to clone rare Scottish wildcats.

Embryologist Dr Bill Ritchie said the project could help protect the species which is thought to number about 400 cats in the wild.

Midlothian-based Moredun Research Institute is involved.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) has previously suggested cloning wildcats.

Dolly the Sheep was the first cloned mammal ever to be made from an adult cell and was the result of work at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh.

Dr Ritchie's research has received some funding from Genecom, the commercial arm of the Moredun Research Institute and the Institute for Animal Health.

The scientist said: "Several cat species have been cloned using the domestic cat, as well as the wolf using dog eggs.

"It is very difficult to find pure wildcats due to their crossing with domestic animals, but modern scientific techniques are able to select animals which are pure bred.

"Cells collected from these animals by taking a small piece of skin would be cultured to supply cells for the cloning process."

'Pure wildcat kittens'
Dr Ritchie said eggs from domestic cats, which would be available from tissue recovered during spaying of the animal, could be used as the starting material for the cloning process.

A project in the Cairngorms where cats are spayed to prevent inter-breeding with wildcats could provide a "convenient source of eggs", Dr Ritchie said.

In August last year, bosses at the RZSS's Highland Wildlife Park confirmed a plan to clone wildcats was in the early stages of being discussed.

Talks had been held with the Medical Research Council's Human Reproductive Sciences Unit in Edinburgh.

The park said a house cat-wildcat hybrid could be used to give birth to "pure wildcat kittens".

It has been estimated that 150 breeding pairs of wildcats survive in parts of the Highlands.

Disease, loss of habitat and inter-breeding with domestic cats have been blamed for devastating wild populations.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-14663911

South Korean scientists create glowing dog: report

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean scientists said on Wednesday they have created a glowing dog using a cloning technique that could help find cures for human diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, Yonhap news agency reported.
A research team from Seoul National University (SNU) said the genetically modified female beagle, named Tegon and born in 2009, has been found to glow fluorescent green under ultraviolet light if given a doxycycline antibiotic, the report said.

The researchers, who completed a two-year test, said the ability to glow can be turned on or off by adding a drug to the dog's food.

"The creation of Tegon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases," the news agency quoted lead researcher Lee Byeong-chun as saying.

He said the dog was created using the somatic cell nuclear transfer technology that the university team used to make the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005.

The scientist said that because there are 268 illnesses that humans and dogs have in common, creating dogs that artificially show such symptoms could aid treatment methods for diseases that afflict humans.

The latest discovery published in 'Genesis', an international journal, took four years of research with roughly 3.2 billion won ($3 million) spent to make the dog and conduct the necessary verification tests, Yonhap said.

(Reporting by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE76Q1MK20110727?irpc=932

Extinct woolly mammoth could be brought back to life: report

NEWSCORE
Last Updated: 11:51 AM, January 14, 2011

Posted: 11:37 AM, January 14, 2011

The long-extinct woolly mammoth could be brought back to life within four years after a breakthrough in cloning technology by Japanese scientists.

Researchers have tried unsuccessfully in the past to recover nuclei in cells from the skin and muscle tissue of mammoths found frozen in permafrost, The (London) Daily Telegraph reported late Thursday.

The attempts failed because the cells were too damaged by the extreme cold.

However, a technique pioneered by Dr. Teruhiko Wakayama of the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology has succeeded in cloning a mouse from the cells of another, which had been frozen for 16 years.

Akira Iritani, a professor at Kyoto University, said the same technique could be used to resurrect the woolly mammoth, which died out about 5,000 years ago.

"Now the technical problems have been overcome, all we need is a good sample of soft tissue from a frozen mammoth," he said.

The woolly mammoth would be conceived by inserting the nuclei into the egg cells of an African elephant, which will act as a surrogate mother.

Iritani said the first cloned woolly mammoth could be born in about four years.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/extinct_woolly_mammoth_could_be_yRJIeHdsf5KxzAf0E8trcM

See also: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/japansciencemammoth

Extinct woolly mammoth could be brought back to life: report

NEWSCORE
Last Updated: 11:51 AM, January 14, 2011

Posted: 11:37 AM, January 14, 2011

The long-extinct woolly mammoth could be brought back to life within four years after a breakthrough in cloning technology by Japanese scientists.

Researchers have tried unsuccessfully in the past to recover nuclei in cells from the skin and muscle tissue of mammoths found frozen in permafrost, The (London) Daily Telegraph reported late Thursday.

The attempts failed because the cells were too damaged by the extreme cold.

However, a technique pioneered by Dr. Teruhiko Wakayama of the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology has succeeded in cloning a mouse from the cells of another, which had been frozen for 16 years.

Akira Iritani, a professor at Kyoto University, said the same technique could be used to resurrect the woolly mammoth, which died out about 5,000 years ago.

"Now the technical problems have been overcome, all we need is a good sample of soft tissue from a frozen mammoth," he said.

The woolly mammoth would be conceived by inserting the nuclei into the egg cells of an African elephant, which will act as a surrogate mother.

Iritani said the first cloned woolly mammoth could be born in about four years.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/extinct_woolly_mammoth_could_be_yRJIeHdsf5KxzAf0E8trcM

See also: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/japansciencemammoth

Dolly the Sheep 'reborn' as four new clones created

The quads, nicknamed “The Dollies”, are said to be exact genetic copies of their predecessor, who was put down seven years ago.


Dolly was plagued by health problems and suffered from premature arthritis. She was put down in 2003 after contracting lung disease.

“Dolly is alive and well. Genetically these are Dolly,” Professor Keith Campbell, who keeps the Dollies as pets on land at Nottingham University, told the Daily Mail.

“They have got the life of Reilly – they potter around and get fed.

“We are not doing anything to them, they have no health concerns and they show none of the signs of developing the arthritis that Dolly had.”

The professor, who plans to publish details about the Dollies in a scientific journal, said the health of the clones was being closely watched.

He said the latest experiments were carried out to investigate whether improvements to the technique could cut the risk of problems in and out of the womb.

The arrival of Dolly was a landmark in genetic technology, demonstrating that scientists could reverse cellular time by converting an adult sheep's cell into an embryo, which was then grown into a new sheep.

Her birth prompted a fierce debate about the ethics and ramifications of cloning, with one writer claiming that Dolly "looks at you with those intense red eyes – eyes full of hate".

The ethical arguments against animal cloning were strengthened by the ill health that forced her to be put down.

Dolly the Sheep 'reborn' as four new clones created

The quads, nicknamed “The Dollies”, are said to be exact genetic copies of their predecessor, who was put down seven years ago.


Dolly was plagued by health problems and suffered from premature arthritis. She was put down in 2003 after contracting lung disease.

“Dolly is alive and well. Genetically these are Dolly,” Professor Keith Campbell, who keeps the Dollies as pets on land at Nottingham University, told the Daily Mail.

“They have got the life of Reilly – they potter around and get fed.

“We are not doing anything to them, they have no health concerns and they show none of the signs of developing the arthritis that Dolly had.”

The professor, who plans to publish details about the Dollies in a scientific journal, said the health of the clones was being closely watched.

He said the latest experiments were carried out to investigate whether improvements to the technique could cut the risk of problems in and out of the womb.

The arrival of Dolly was a landmark in genetic technology, demonstrating that scientists could reverse cellular time by converting an adult sheep's cell into an embryo, which was then grown into a new sheep.

Her birth prompted a fierce debate about the ethics and ramifications of cloning, with one writer claiming that Dolly "looks at you with those intense red eyes – eyes full of hate".

The ethical arguments against animal cloning were strengthened by the ill health that forced her to be put down.