Cloning a gelding

[JesusA (imported)]

U.S. Team Clones First Mule

Stefan Lovgren

for National Geographic News

May 29, 2003

First there was Dolly, the sheep. Now, scientists at the University of Idaho have successfully cloned a mule. Born on May 4, Idaho Gem is the first member of the horse family to be cloned.

The successful cloning of a mule, and the groundbreaking research on which it was based, could have a significant impact on fields as diverse as cancer research and racehorse breeding, according to Gordon Woods, a professor of animal and veterinary science at the University of Idaho in Moscow, who led the research team.

It's also the first clone of a hybrid animal. A mule results from a cross between a female horse, or mare, and a male donkey, or jack. As hybrids, mules are almost always sterile.

The birth, the culmination of a five-year process, was unassisted and went off without a hitch. Only 12 minutes after being born, Idaho Gem stood up, and 33 hours later he was let out to play on the grass.

"He was shooting around like a rabbit," said Woods. "I think he's very cute, inquisitive and vibrant. He's quite an athlete."

Soon, Idaho Gem will even have company. Two more pregnancies, resulting from the same cloning procedure, are in the advanced stages with the next birth expected on June 9.

Idaho Gem, a month-old male mule, is the first member of the horse family to be cloned. He is also the first clone of a hybrid animal, pictured above with his surrogate mare.

Microsurgery

Cloning has occurred in nature for billions of years in plants and some animals. The term refers to the process of asexually producing an offspring that is genetically identical to a parent plant or animal.

In the laboratory, scientists use cell nuclear transfer techniques to produce animals with genetic material identical to just one parent. Scientists remove the nucleus from an egg cell, which contains the cell's genetic material, and replace it with genetic material from another somatic, or body tissue, cell.

An electric pulse fuses the egg cell and the new genetic material. The cell is then treated in an activation medium that allows it to develop into an embryo to be implanted in a surrogate mother's womb.

While in-vitro fertilization in cattle is routine, it is rare in horses. Despite numerous attempts, only two "test-tube" horses have been born, back in the late 1980s. The low cell activity in equine species makes both in-vitro fertilization and cloning more difficult in horses than in cattle and even humans.

Idaho Gem's DNA came from a fetal cell culture first established at the university in 1998. For three years, the team worked without success. After transferring the nuclei from the mule cells into 134 horse eggs and implanting them into mares, only two pregnancies resulted. Both failed.

But in 2001, the team began to focus on the calcium levels in the fluid surrounding the eggs. After they raised those levels, "the results were impressive and immediate," said Woods. The team established 14 pregnancies in 113 attempts. Eight of the pregnancies continued to at least the 40-day stage when heartbeats were detected.

Cancer Causes

The understanding of cellular biology in horses may offer new insights into cancer research.

The mortality rate for horses with metastatic cancer is eight percent for all cancers and zero percent for prostate cancer. By comparison, the mortality rate in humans is approximately 24 percent for all cancers, and 13 percent for prostate cancer.

"We believe there is a chemical explanation for this," said Woods. Calcium may be the key. Horses have a lower amount of intracellular calcium than humans and correspondingly a slower rate of cell activity. Their metabolism is slow compared to humans. Researchers believe the difference in cellular activity might play a role in cancer development and reproduction.

When Woods and his team increased calcium levels, putting them at a level closer to that of humans, they also increased the pregnancy success rate.

"Horses can be used as a key to understanding humans," said Woods. "It's important to understand what's regulating calcium activity. If there is a way to manipulate it, we could lower the risk of cancer in humans."

[The Perfect Stallion

The discovery could also have a major impact on mule racing.

The main sponsor of the cloning project was Don Jacklin, an Idaho businessman with a passion for mule racing. The cloned foal is the full brother of Taz, Jacklin's best racer. Mule racing is gaining popularity in some parts of the country. But because mules are sterile, breeding new champions is difficult. Cloning is the only feasible way for a mule to reproduce.

Preliminary testing showed that the method developed by the researchers to successfully clone a mule should also work with a horse. But the Jockey Club, which regulates American thoroughbred racing, bans cloning.

Too bad, say some horsebreeders. They would love to clone Funny Cide, the remarkable thoroughbred that has collected wins at the Kentucky Derby and Preakness this year and could complete the Triple Crown with a win at the Belmont Stakes next month. Funny Cide is a gelding, a castrated male that is now a genetic dead end. [But, maybe not for long! ----JA]

A summary of the research appears in the current issue of the science journal Nature.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... clone.html

[Farrell_Squire (imported)]

Great article. I hope they keep making advances in this area. I suppose one of my greatest faults is that I've never seen a science project I didn't like. LOL!

Farrell

PS: I'm glad to see them making advances with Neutersol now. (And I'm still keeping my eye on Gonex.)

[Paolo]

And good news for the market if Funny Side, the gelding, wins the Triple Crown, since they sure can't BREED him the old-fashioned way.

[yankee masha (imported)]

Now for somethng totally unrelated, Paolo. I wsa at friends' house last night and they have this kind of home theare with tons of speakers, dvd, huge screen, munchies, the works. I am not much inot movies but smiled and we watched the Harry Potter second movie. And lo and behold, there was our avatar with the camera. I felt kind of like coming out. I thought it was nan old picture of you!

so as I said, irrelevant as can be, but had to share it. I eally gotta get out of the house more.

[Paolo]

Frightening, wasn't it?

Now, if we can just clone me, everyone will be happy. :tongueout

[Andrew (imported)]

And good news for the market if Funny Side, the gelding, wins the Triple Crown, since they sure can't BREED him the old-fashioned way.

Well, as we all know by now, Funny Cide (correct spelling) lost. And if you don't mind a eunuch like me making a comment about a gelding, I really thought the win was "in the bag".

[JesusA (imported)]

And the work continues

Mare Gives Birth to Own Clone

August 07, 2003

A foal born earlier this year named Prometea is the first successfully cloned horse, scientists report today in the journal Nature. What is more, the horse from which the original cell material was taken--not a surrogate--gave birth to her. The birth also challenges the idea that the early success of a pregnancy depends on the mother's immune system responding to a developing fetus and placenta as something different from itself.

Cesare Galli and his colleagues at the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology in Italy engineered male and female cell lines from skin biopsies of two horses, a male Arabian thoroughbred and a female Haflinger. A total of 841 embryos were constructed using the same nuclear transfer technique that led to Dolly the sheep. Of these, 22 developed into blastocysts, or hollow spheres of 100 or so cells. The scientists then implanted 17 of the blastocysts into nine female horses, which resulted in four pregnancies. Prometea, born on May 28, 2003, was the only one to survive to full term and so far, she is in good health. "Our result adds the horse to the list of mammals that have so far been successfully cloned from an adult somatic cell," the authors note.

The legacy of championship racers and show horses could conceivably live on forever if reproducible copies are indeed feasible. The scientists conclude that "in principle, cloning could enable gelding champions [castrated horses] to contribute their genotype to future generations, as well as opening up an opportunity to verify the reproducibility of traits such as character and sporting performance." --Sarah Graham

Scientific American On-Line

October 2003 issue

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articl ... hanID=sa00