Cloning In Farm Animals

Cloning in farm animals

Introduction

Cloning technology took a step that has managed to stay in history and this was developed at the Roslin Institute. There it was possible to apply transgenic technology to farm animals. This consisted of introducing an external transgen gene into a living organism so that it shows a new feature that could later convey to its dependence. Before Dolly, Roslin’s sheep, several clones had occurred in animals such as frogs and mice. Dolly was the first cloned mammal of an adult cell which meant a great achievement for the world of science.

Developing

Dolly’s cloning was the result of the extraction of a 6 -year -old Finn Dorset sheep’s mammary cell and an ovule of a scottish blackface sheep. His substitute mother had a black face, and Dolly was born with her white face, this was the first sign that showed that the cloning had been achieved. The case of the Dolly sheep acquired great importance throughout the world, since it was able to demonstrate that specialized cells could be used in order to create a copy exactly the same the animal that came. 

Opening endless possibilities in medicine and biology. After this successful experiment, personalized stem cells known as IPS could be developed. Two other sheep, Megan and Morag, had also been cloned from embryonic cells grown in the Roslin Institute Laboratory in 1995 and six other sheep, cloned from embryonic and fetal cells, were born in Roslin at the same time as Dolly.

What did Dolly so special was that it had been made of an adult cell, which no one at that time thought it was possible.

Dolly’s life: the first cloned sheep of an adult cell

Roslin’s little sheep’s life began in a test tube. The normal development of the embryo confirmed, it was transferred to the substitute mother. The pregnancy managed to be traveled without any inconvenience and Dolly was born on July 5, 1996. The birth of the sheep was kept secret until once the research results. The world press echoed this great scientific achievement.

When Dolly had completed his first year, the results of his DNA analysis showed that his telomeres were shorter than they should be in a sheep of his age. This meant that his DNA was exposed to damage. It is believed that the cause of this was because its DNA came from an adult sheep. It was determined that perhaps it could be greater of its real age, although its health did not demonstrate at the time symptoms related to premature aging.

conclusion

Roslin’s sheep led a normal life in the institute and had six ladies. In 2000, when Dolly was 4 years old, she contracted retrovirus, which causes lung cancer in the sheep. In 2001, arthritis was diagnosed after noticing that he did not walk normally although with anti -inflammatories and other remedies he could cope with the disease. In 2003, it was discovered that the tumors consequence of retrovirus had begun to grow in their lungs. His veterinarians made the decision to sacrifice her to prevent her from suffering.