Researchers at the Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts took a giant leap toward one of the hallmarks of science fiction depictions of genetic engineering by producing two clones from cells of a banteng that had died years earlier.
Back in the late 1970s the San Diego Zoo began preserving cell and genetic material from animals. Tissue samples from animals were stored within plastic vials and then preserved in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Centigrade.
One of the animals that they took tissue samples from was the banteng, a wild species of cow of which there are believed to be only 8,000 individuals in existence, and most of those at a single place — the island of Java.
The San Diego Zoo sent tissues samples from the banteng to Advanced Cell Technology which fused the genetic material from the skin of the banteng into cow eggs that had already had their own genetic material removed. Another company, Trans Ova Genetics, then implanted 30 such eggs into cows. Of the 30 implanted eggs, only two resulted in live births, and one of those animals had to be euthanized shortly after it was born.
The second animal appears to be thriving, however, and at least provides a proof of concept that this sort of thing is possible. ACT had previously used much the same procedure to clone a wild ox a few years ago, but the only live birth from that experiment died only two days later. Italian researchers in 2001 reported they had cloned an endangered wild sheep.
The major question left now is assuming the cloned banteng survives to the breeding age of six, will he be able to mate and produce offspring.
Oliver Ryder, a geneticist with the San Diego Zoo’s Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species, told Reuters that, “The fact that it can happen at all just astounds me. . . . At the time we did not know how this resource might be used, but we knew it was important to save as much information about endangered species as we could.”
Conservationists had mixed feelings about the success of the experiment, with some lamenting that it wouldn’t do much good to clone banteng if their natural habitat were not preserved as well. Karen Baragona of the World Wildlife Fund told CBS News,
If you don’t deal with protecting habitat and dealing with the root causes of endangerment, it doesn’t matter how many animals you’re able to produce in a lab and try to sort of fling back into the wild, they’re going to face the same fate as their wild counterparts.
Sources:
Scientists clone long-dead animal. CBS News, April 8, 2003.
Endangered animal clone produced. The BBC, April 9, 2003.