Verification that Snuppy is a clone

Health and temperaments of cloned working dogs

Dogs serve human society in various ways by working at tasks that are based on their superior olfactory sensitivity. However, it has been reported that only about half of all trained dogs may qualify as working dogs through conventional breeding management because proper temperament and health are needed in addition to their innate scent detection ability. To overcome this low efficiency of breeding qualified working dogs, and to reduce the enormous costs of maintaining unqualified dogs, somatic cell nuclear transfer has been applied in the propagation of working dogs. Herein, we review the history of cloning working dogs and evaluate the health development, temperaments, and behavioral similarities among the cloned dogs. We also discuss concerns about dog cloning including those related to birth defects, lifespan, and cloning efficiency.

Fraud and misconduct in science: the stem cell seduction: Implications for the peer-review process

Scientific misconduct and fraud occur in science. The (anonymous) peer review process serves as goalkeeper of scientific quality rather than scientific integrity. In this brief paper we describe some limitations of the peer-review process. We describe the catastrophic facts of the 'Woo-Suk Hwang fraud case' and raise some ethical concerns about the issue. Finally, we pay attention to plagiarism, autoplagiarism and double publications. (Neth Heart J 2009;17:25-9.).

A cloned toy poodle produced from somatic cells derived from an aged female dog

To date, dogs have been cloned with somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), using donor cells derived from large-breed dogs 2 months to 3 years of age. The objective of the present study was to use SCNT to produce a small-breed dog from ear fibroblasts of an aged poodle, using large-breed oocyte donors and surrogate females, and to determine the origin of its mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the length of its telomeres. Oocytes were derived from large-breed donors, matured in vivo, collected by flushing oviducts, and reconstructed with somatic cells derived from an aged (14-year-old) female toy poodle. Oocytes and donor cells were fused by electric stimuli, activated chemically, and transferred into the oviducts of large-breed recipient females. Overall, 358 activated couplets were surgically transferred into the oviducts of 20 recipient dogs. Two recipients became pregnant; only one maintained pregnancy to term, and a live puppy (weighing 190 g) was delivered by Caesarean section. The cloned poodle was phenotypically and genetically identical to the nuclear donor dog; however, its mtDNA was from the oocyte donor, and its mean telomere length was not significantly different from that of the nuclear donor. In summary, we demonstrated that a small-breed dog could be cloned by transferring activated couplets produced by fusion of somatic cells from a small-breed, aged donor female with enucleated in-vivo-matured oocytes of large-breed females, and transferred into the oviduct of large-breed recipient female dogs.

Nuclear reprogramming of cloned embryos and its implications for therapeutic cloning

Therapeutic cloning, whereby somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is used to generate patient-specific embryonic stem cells (ESCs) from blastocysts cloned by nuclear transfer (ntESCs), holds great promise for the treatment of many human diseases. ntESCs have been derived in mice and cattle, but thus far there are no credible reports of human ntESCs. Here we review the recent literature on nuclear reprogramming by SCNT, including studies of gene expression, DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling, genomic imprinting and X chromosome inactivation. Reprogramming of genes expressed in the inner cell mass, from which ntESCs are derived, seems to be highly efficient. Defects in the extraembryonic lineage are probably the major cause of the low success rate of reproductive cloning but are not expected to affect the derivation of ntESCs. We remain optimistic that human therapeutic cloning is achievable and that the derivation of patient-specific ntESC lines will have great potential for regenerative medicine.

Comparison of the Growth Performances of Offspring Produced by a Pair of Cloned Cattle and Their Nuclear Donor Animals

In the present study, the growth performance of a calf produced by mating a somatic cell cloned dam and sire was compared with that of its full siblings produced by mating the cattle used as nuclear donors for the cloned animals. The somatic cell cloned dam and sire were derived from cultured cumulus cells and ear cells, respectively. The cloned dam was artificially inseminated with semen from the cloned sire. A female calf was produced that was reared under general group feeding conditions. The calf was subjected to a clinical examination and to hematology, serum biochemistry, and telomere length analyses; all of these tests indicated that the calf was normal. The growth characteristics (body weight and shoulder height) of the calf fell within the range of the full siblings of the same sex produced by mating the animals used as the nuclear donors of clones. These findings suggest that the same breeding performance is expected from mating a cloned dam and sire as from mating the animals used as nuclear donors for the clones.

The status of human nuclear transfer

Human therapeutic cloning is a recently emerged application of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which is currently being performed to produce patient-specific stem cell lines for future stem cell therapies. The advantages in producing human nuclear transfer (NT) embryos to derive NT stem cell lines are that these can be tailor-made (i.e., are autologous in nature) for the patient and may overcome the need to administer life-long immunosuppression following stem cell transplantation. Although the rationale for using NT embryos is not for reproductive purposes, human NT remains clouded in ethical, moral, and religious controversies. The recent retraction of high-impact factor publications in the field of human NT from a research group in South Korea has placed stem cell research in a delicate situation. These heavily publicized issues may hinder the progress of this research and may threaten to bring current research to a complete halt. This review outlines the recent status of human NT, its continuing progress and the difficulties the field faces. Of most concern are the ethical issues, which surround obtaining human oocytes for research. Recent evidence suggests that failed-to-fertilize oocytes are poor sources for human SCNT, but obtaining fresh, viable oocytes may be even more problematic. The current status of human SCNT is outlined in this review with particular reference made to, lessons learnt from animal research, the oocyte dilemma and optimization of human NT.

Molecular genetics: DNA analysis of a putative dog clone

In August 2005, Lee et al. reported the first cloning of a domestic dog from adult somatic cells. This putative dog clone was the result of somatic-cell nuclear transfer from a fibroblast cell of a three-year-old male Afghan hound into a donor oocyte provided by a dog of mixed breed. In light of recent concerns regarding the creation of cloned human cell lines from the same institution, we have undertaken an independent test to determine the validity of the claims made by Lee et al..