Meet the cloned mouse with 580 identical 'twins'

摘要

A Mouse has smashed the record for sequential cloning - the ability to make clones of clones of clones. Twenty-five generations of clones have come from the mouse, and all 580 of them were healthy, lived normal lifespans and could have healthy pups through normal mating. "My lab is now trying to make cloned mice from dead frozen bodies, fur, stuffed bodies and excrement," says Teruhiko Wakayama at the RIKEN Centerfor Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, who carried out the work. He says that the technique could help in producing high-quality animals for farms and conservation purposes. "If a 'super cow' that could produce, say, a lot of milk or Kobe beef could be cloned at low cost, then not only consumers but also farmers would be happy."