A Cloned Cat Is Born

After 188 tries, researchers at Texas A&M University in College Station succeeded to clone a kitten, it was reported in mid-February. The kitten was born around the middle of last December and is called "Cc", and appears to be completely normal.

"Cc" is the first successful product of a program aimed at letting people clone their beloved pets.

It joins a growing list of animals that have been cloned from adult cells, starting with Dolly the sheep and now including pigs, goats, cattle, mice and an oxlike creature called a gaur.

"The kitten was vigorous at birth and appears to be completely normal," Mark Westhusin and colleagues write in their report in a letter published in the science journal Nature.

The kitten is a calico-and-white shorthair that looks similar to, but not exactly like, her genetic mother. The kitten looks very different from the tabby that gave birth to her.

The scientists said her coat coloring was unique because not only genetics contribute to an animal's markings, but also conditions in the womb.
Westhusin's team said the kitten was cloned from a cumulus cell. These cells nurture the developing eggs in a female's ovary and have been used to clone other animals as well, as they seem particularly adaptable to the process.

It took the researchers 188 tries to get just one kitten. They got 82 embryos but only one cat got pregnant, with a single kitten. Westhusin said it is not clear how easy it will be to clone cats.

The cat on the left is the nuclear-donor. Cc is pictured on the right with her surrogate mother.

© 2002 - Khorsheed.com - Feb 2002