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| Meet Snuppy: The First Cloned Dog From Korea |
| South Korean researchers cloned a three year-old Afghan Hound by transplanting somatic cells |
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Kim Deok Ryeon (jean)  |
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Published 2005-08-03 21:12 (KST) |
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 | |  Snuppy is having fun before the watchful eyes of Dr. Hwang and the army of photographers. | | | ©2005 Kwon W.S. | | Two Korean researchers announced early Wednesday (August 3) morning that they have become the first to clone man's best friend.
Seoul National University (SNU) professors Hwang Woo Suk and Lee Byung Chun said that the dog was born April 24 in the university's veterinary hospital and is named "Snuppy," a combination of the school's acronym and the English word "puppy."
Lee and Hwang said that based on research begun in August 2002 they had taken a somatic cell from the skin of a three year-old Afghan Hound and placed it an egg to produce a cloned fertilized one that was then implanted in the womb of a female of a different breed. The somatic cell was placed in the egg after removing the egg's nucleus.
According to Hwang, the cloned sheep Dolly was produced by extracting a nucleus and placing it in an egg, but that "all the animals we have cloned were produced by transplanting somatic cells." He said the same method was used in cloning Snuppy.
"1,095 cloned fertilized eggs were implanted in 123 surrogate mothers, and among those three were found to be pregnant," said Hwang. One was absorbed in the womb and one died 22 days after birth. The one that survived, Snuppy, is 101 days old. At birth he weighed 530 grams and currently weights 11 kilograms.
 | | | Thai and his cloned double Snuppy(right) pose for the press Wednesday in Seoul National University together with Dr. Hwang Woo Suk and Dr. Gerald Schatten. | | | ©2005 Kwon W.S. | | Reportedly, Snuppy has the characteristics of the somatic cell donor, including particularities such as blood type, and shares absolutely no genetic resemblances with the surrogate. The researchers said they chose to work with dogs because they share many physiological similarities with human beings and because they are affected by many of the same infectious diseases.
"We first considered cloning a monkey, since monkeys share more physiological similarities with humans that dogs do," said Hwang. "But after consulting with University of Pittsburgh monkey cloning expert Gerald Schatten, we decided that at the current stage cloning a monkey would be impossible. We chose to work with dogs as an alternative."
The Lee and Hwang explained that their research allows for research in diverse incurable genetic diseases in dogs and the production of disease-model animals, which in turn will be applicable in the development of new pharmaceuticals and cell treatments.
In May, the South Korean team said they had created the first human embryonic stem cells matching the DNA of ill patients.
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If it were possible, would you clone your pet? (2005-08-04 ~ 2005-08-11) |
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©2005 OhmyNews
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