Tag: Cloning

Chinese researchers at Yunnan University and the biotechnology company Sinogene claim to have cloned a police dog to reduce how long it takes to train these dogs and the associated costs. No details on the technique used were given. The long-term objective is said to be “mass production” of cloned police dogs, but for the time being, the cost of cloning is an “obstacle” for these researchers.

The first cloned dog dates back to 2005, in South Korea (see Snuppy, the first cloned dog).

For further reading:

• Dog clones and “reclones” – are they in good health?
• China is building the largest commercial animal cloning centre
• Commercial dog cloning

Reuters (20/03/2019)

Five cloned monkeys have been born at the Institute of Neurosciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai over the last six months. They were produced from the fibroblasts of a genetically modified adult Macaque monkey. Its BMAL1 gene, which helps regulate circadian rhythm, was neutralised “to make it sick”. Two articles were published on this subject in the National Science Review.

The purpose of the experiment was to establish whether “cloned offspring” of the Macaque monkey could be affected by disorders as a result of this genetic modification. In fact, the cloned monkeys “showed signs of mental problems (depression, anxiety, schizophrenia-related behaviour) associated with sleep disorders”.

The Chinese media refer to a “world first”, and the authors “confirm that the information can be used for research on psychological diseases in humans. Researchers wishing to develop new drugs or treatments can work on genetically similar animals with very specific diseases”. According to Mu-ming Poo, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and director of the CAS-affiliated Institute of Neurosciences in Shanghai, similar research is being planned to study other brain diseases. He explains that “cloning primates with ideal research characteristics means that far fewer monkeys are required for animal experiments”.

The same institute raised controversy back in January 2018 by announcing that it had cloned monkeys (see: China: first primates cloned by nuclear transfer).

Medicalxpress (23/01/19) – Gene-edited disease monkeys cloned in China ; AFP (24/01/2018)

Monsignor Ivan Jukovic, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, addressed the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) in Geneva on 21 March 2018. He emphasised that the United Nations’ Declaration on Human Cloning “insists that States adopt all necessary measures to adequately protect human life when applying the life sciences”.

On the subject of human life, Monsignor Jukovic recalled Article 4 of the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, which states that: “The human genome in its natural state must not generate financial gains[1]“, and Article 21 of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the Dignity of Human Beings, regarding the application of biology and medicine, which states that “the human body and its parts must not, as such, give rise to financial gain”[2].

“The United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning recognises the fact that some rapidly developing life sciences applications may raise ethical concerns with regard to human dignity, human rights and the fundamental freedom of individuals”, he explains, and we must not “ignore the major economic, environmental and ethical concerns about patenting life, as such action would have a negative impact on consumers’ rights, the preservation of biodiversity, environmental protection, indigenous rights, scientific and academic freedom and, ultimately, the economic development of many developing countries as it depends on new technologies”.

He demanded that “no patent be granted on life forms, including human life” .

[1]  United Nations, A / 53/152 dated 9 December 1998; United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), General Assembly proceedings, 29th session , Paris, 21 October-12 November 1997, Resolution 6.

[2]  Council of Europe, ETS No. 164, Oviedo, 4 April 1967

Zenit (22/03/2018)

“A Chinese team has just cloned the very first primates with the technique used on Dolly the ewe in 1996”. Highlighted in the Cell journal on 24 January, the birth of these two Macaque monkeys[1], Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, has generated “biological shockwaves of seismic proportions” according to Jean-Yves Nau, journalist and Doctor of Medicine.

At the time, the birth of Dolly raised an unprecedented ethical and scientific debate. For the first time, scientists had managed to “create a healthy animal – the identical genetic replica of its mother – without the need for sexual reproduction”. An international consensus was quickly reached “to prevent the use of this technique in humans”. Since then, “23 species of different mammals” have been cloned in this way. However, in cloning primates, Zhen Liu et al. at the Institute of Neurosciences in Shanhai, have ventured one step closer to cloning human embryos. Scientists “are hoping to produce genetically identical animal lines for research purposes”[2]. However, “although mastery of this technique is far from perfect, the Macaque monkey is normally studied in an attempt to venture closer to humans,” notes Hervé Chneiweiss, President of the Inserm Ethics Committee.

The technique employed, namely the nuclear transfer of somatic cells or “somatic cloning”, is similar to that used for Dolly. A nucleus is harvested from a differentiated adult cell and then transferred to a previously enucleated egg[3]. The failure of this method in primates between 1990 and 2000 led the Oregon-based scientists to adopt a different technique in 1999. By triggering “embryo division such as that generated spontaneously in the case of real twins”, they managed to produce a female monkey. In this respect, the Chinese team, for its part, “optimised” nuclear transfer“using substances modulating the expression of certain genes that inhibit embryo development”. They used “the nuclei of fibroblasts taken from the same donor Macaque foetus”, which were then transferred to enucleated eggs. These “embryos were implanted in the uterus of female Macaque monkeys used as surrogate mothers”.

Despite headlining today’s journals, the Chinese scientists have nevertheless “experienced numerous setbacks”, with a return rate of “only 1.6%”: “based on 127 foetal fibroblast nuclei transferred into as many enucleated eggs, scientists were able to cultivate 79 embryos in vitro. Then they implanted them in the uterus of 21 surrogate mothers. Six pregnancies occurred and only two Macaque monkeys were born alive”. “This is a very low success rate,” according to Nathalie Beaujean, from the Institut de recherche sur le cerveau et les cellules souches (Brain and Stem Cell Research Institute) in Lyons. According to Corinne Cotinot from INRA,“The procedure remains ineffective, long and costly”.

[1] Now eight and six weeks old, respectively

[2] They are considering using them “to promote an understanding of mainly genetic human diseases and discover treatments” in particular.

[3] “Unlike adult cells, which contain a pair of each chromosome, the egg has only one set. The genetic inheritance of an egg is complete only after fertilisation by a sperm. Nuclear transfer has the same outcome”.

Le Monde, Paul Benkimoun (24/01/2018); Jean-Yves Nau (24/01/2018); Le Temps, Florence Rosier (24/01/2018)

Photo: Pixabay / DR

Based on cells taken from Snuppy, “the first dog cloned ten years ago,”, a team comprising South Korean and American scientists [1] successfully “recloned” four puppies” a few years ago. Snuppy had been cloned by the same unit in Seoul in 2005 using an Afghan hound called Tai. When the dog was five years old, its stem cells were used to produce new clones. Out of 94 embryos implanted, four led to births. One of the four puppies died a few days later but the cause of death was not linked to the cloning technique. The three surviving puppies are now seven years old.

The cloning of dogs is “particularly complicated compared to mice, cows, pigs, goats, rabbits or cats”, because their “reproductive process” involves “a single ovulation period per cycle”, and maturation of heterogeneous eggs.

The team, which wants to learn more about the health and viability of cloned and  “recloned” animals because the “question of the accelerated ageing of cloned animals is still unresolved”, published an article in the Scientific Reports journal on 10 November 2017. They compared  “the health of Snuppy with that of its ‘model’ in order to detect any potentially harmful effects of cloning”. The two dogs died from cancer (“particularly prevalent in dogs”) at 10 and 12 years old, respectively, “which corresponds to the average life expectancy of Afghan hounds”. At nine months old, the three puppies were  “normal and in good health”. “The clinical and molecular follow-up of these ‘recloned’ animals throughout their life is a unique opportunity to compare the health and longevity of these animals with those of donors,” according to scientists.

 [1] Seoul National University (South Korea), Michigan State University (USA), University of Illinois of Urbana-Champaign (USA)

 Further reading:

Will CRISPR replace animal cloning?

Phys.org, Bob Yirka (22/11/2017) ; Sciences et avenir, Anne-Sophie Tassard (22/11/2017); AFP (23/11/2017)

Photo : Pixabay / DR

A team of French-American scientists has investigated gestation failures in animal cloning. Their results suggest that this technique is now outdated and will be used less and less.

Scientists have been testing the transfer of the nucleus of an adult cell to an egg, or somatic cloning, for more than twenty years in an attempt to create hyper-productive animals. This led to the birth of the ewe, Dolly, in 1996 “In cattle, however, biologists have only managed to deliver healthy calves in 5 to 15% of cases compared to 30 to 60% with in-vitro fertilisation.

In 2009, initial research confirmed “the role of uterine biosensors in terms of embryo quality. (…) The uterus is a sophisticated, dynamic and active organ, capable of recognising in-vitro fertilisation or artificial insemination via an extremely sophisticated regulating mechanism used to clone the embryo. Nowadays, artificial insemination is widely used in cattle rearing”. Recently, the continuation of this research has shown that “a marked disruption in the signals regulating interactions between the cloned embryo and the uterus, is hindering normal gestation”. In cloned embryos, the expressing genes “are linked to fatal characters triggering faults in embryonic or extra-embryonic development”.

In future, CRISPR-Cas9 should replace animal cloning as a genome-specific technique, which is “easier and less expensive to use”.

La Croix, Denis Sergent (15/12/2016)

According to experts, ever since the cloning of the ewe, Dolly, the question surrounding human cloning has become “complicated, risky and ethically questionable to the extent that other methods have taken precedence”.

Dolly was the first mammal to be cloned. This was carried out in 1996 using the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technique. The nucleus of an adult cell is collected with its DNA (a mammary gland cell in Dolly’s case), and implanted in an unfertilised egg with the nucleus removed.

No human being has been cloned in this way to date because “cloning as a human reproduction technique has been widely opposed across the world on ethical grounds and because of health risks”. Furthermore, it has been seen that “in animals, only a handful of cloned embryos can survive up until birth and many subsequently develop health problems”.

Although cloning has not led to direct applications in the medical field, it has paved the way to numerous spin-off technologies such as:

·         IPS cells (induced pluripotent stem cells). Stem cells are created without using embryos, by stimulating mature cells which are brought to a juvenile state.

·         The transfer of healthy mitochondrial DNA during in-vitro fertilisation (also known as “three-parent IVF”) to avoid diseases transmitted by the mother.

In view of these sometimes controversial innovations (see Three-parent IVF: “We have no setback”, “Efficacy of three parent IVF” contested by American scientists”), Aaron Levine, bioethicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology (United States) believes that “cell cloning will disappear”. He added that, “There are simply not enough areas where cloning is essential and which cannot be accessed using another technique”.

AFP 04/07/2016

On Tuesday, 8 September 2015, the European Parliament adopted the first reading of a bill banning the sale of cloned animals, bred using a specific feeding strategy, as well as their descendants and products they generate, within the European Union.  In 2013, the European Commission presented a similar draft bill aimed at banning the sale of meat and milk from cloned animals.  However, this bill did not come to fruition due to potential repercussions with commercial partners.

 Animal cloning is banned in Europe which nevertheless imports the produce generated by cloned animals including embryos, semen and even the descendants of these animals from countries such as the United States, Argentina or Brazil.

According to the person who compiled the bill, Euro MP, Renate Sommer, “we are clearing ourselves of any responsibility and will leave the dirty work to others, whilst making the most of the situation”.

AFP (08/09/2015) – Le Monde (08/09/2015)
 

Yesterday, Wednesday 17 June, the European Parliament called for a territory-wide ban within the European Union on cloned animals, their descendants and products obtained from such animals.

This generalised moratorium is “the outcome of an agreement between the six major political branches of Parliament” and the agricultural and environmental commissions.

In their report, which was adopted by 82 MPs with 8 votes against and 8 abstentions, the MPs supported the Commission’s bill to ban animal cloning for agricultural purposes within the EU as well as the marketing of such animals.

Citing ethical concerns, the lively interest in animal well being shown by citizens and the reservations of European citizens and consumers with regard to cloning, the MPs would like to take the bill further. They would like to “ban the sale and importing of cloned animal produce, especially sperm and embryos as well as the descendants of these animals and the products obtained from them”.

According to German Christian Democrat reporter, Renate Sommer, this ban is essential “as otherwise we will be promoting cloning techniques in third-world countries”. “Banning cloning is a question of European values and principles,” she confirmed.

To prevent the ban from being overturned, “Parliament is also calling for the tracking of obligations from commercial partners within the EU”.

This position should be initially endorsed in Strasbourg on 7 – 10 September to pave the way for negotiations between MPs, governments and the Commission in order to “finalise European regulations in this respect”.

Le Monde(17/06/2015); Parlement européen(17/06/2015)