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Genetic rescue of an endangered mammal by cross-species nuclear transfer using post-mortem somatic cells

Nature Biotechnology volume 19, pages 962–964 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Since the advent of procedures for cloning animals, conservation biologists have proposed using this technology to preserve endangered mammals. Here we report the successful cloning of a wild endangered animal, Ovis orientalis musimon, using oocytes collected from a closely related, domesticated species, Ovis aries. We injected enucleated sheep oocytes with granulosa cells collected from two female mouflons found dead in the pasture. Blastocyst-stage cloned embryos transferred into sheep foster mothers established two pregnancies, one of which produced an apparently normal mouflon. Our findings support the use of cloning for the expansion of critically endangered populations.

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Figure 1: Cloned female mouflon with the sheep foster mother.
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Acknowledgements

Special thanks go to Dr. Cesare Galli (Laboratorio di Tecnologie della Riproduzione, Cremona, Italy) for constructive discussions throughout the experiments. The authors also acknowledge Dr. Michele Blasi for the microsatellite analysis, Dr. Maria Dattena and Mr. Fabrizio Chessa for help with surgery, and Mr. Giampiero Camoglio and Mr. Antonio Pintadu for animal care. J.F. is supported by GACR 524/96/K162.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structure, Functions, Animal Pathology and Biotechnology, University of Teramo, Italy

    Pasqualino Loi, Grazyna Ptak & Barbara Barboni

  2. Department of Animal Reproduction, University of Agriculture, Krakow, Poland

    Grazyna Ptak

  3. Institute of Animal Production, Prague, Czech Republic

    Josef Fulka Jr.

  4. Institute of Zootechnics, Sassari, Italy

    Pietro Cappai

  5. Department of Gene Expression and Development, Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Michael Clinton

Authors
  1. Pasqualino Loi
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  2. Grazyna Ptak
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  3. Barbara Barboni
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  4. Josef Fulka Jr.
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  5. Pietro Cappai
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  6. Michael Clinton
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Correspondence to Pasqualino Loi.

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Loi, P., Ptak, G., Barboni, B. et al. Genetic rescue of an endangered mammal by cross-species nuclear transfer using post-mortem somatic cells. Nat Biotechnol 19, 962–964 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1001-962

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