We all remember "Dolly the Sheep" and the cloning controversy that surrounded her identical family members. Since that time, scientists have only been able to complete the cloning process with live donor cells, meaning they needed a living animal to take samples from. However, thanks to Japanese scientists, we might be able to get the same result from cells that have been frozen for long periods of time.
Reserachers have created clones of mice that were frozen at minus 20C for 16 years by injecting nuclei from brain tissue into empty eggs that have had their DNA removed. From those cloned embyros they extracted stem cells, which were then injected into another set of de-nucleied eggs, which then grew into four mouse clones. So while this doesn't mean you will be riding a Mammoth at next year's state fair, it is the seed that could grow into a future Jurassic Park. Best of luck to you, John Hammond.
Comments
Add a Comment