A team of South Korean scientists, credited with producing the world's first cloned dog last year, claimed Sunday that they have cloned three puppies of the same species.
Lee Byung-chun, a veterinary professor at state-run Seoul National University, was a member of the team, led by disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who cloned an Afghan Hound, named Snuppy, for the first time last year.
Leading his own research team, Lee has cloned three more Afghan Hounds this year, using the same technique that helped him clone the first one, according to the team's research paper published on the online edition of the international veterinary journal Theriogenology.
The three female puppies, named Bona, Peace and Hope, respectively, were cloned on June 18, July 10 and July 15, it said.
While Hwang's stem cell studies published in 2004 and 2005 were discredited with revelations of data fabrication, experts in the U.S. and South Korea have confirmed the authenticity of the first cloned Afghan Hound.
In the latest breakthrough, Lee and his team first made cloned fertilized eggs by injecting oocytes, or reproductive germ cells, from a female Afghan Hound named Jessica, into procured ovums. A total of 12 cloned eggs were implanted into surrogate mothers.
The success rate of the production of three hounds was about 25 percent, which compared with 0.8 percent for the first cloned puppy, it ssid.
The three cloned puppies are genetically identical to the cell donor, the paper stated.
Lee's team plans to utilize the breakthrough in producing cell treatment drugs as well as apply the technology in preserving animals on the verge of extinction.
"There needs to be a consistent investment in the field, as canine cloning studies are nearing a practical level with higher success rate," Lee said.
For his alleged part in Hwang's disgraced studies, Lee was repremimanded by his school and deprived of his right to teach students for five months.
Seoul, Dec. 17 (Yonhap News)
Korean scientists clone three more Afghan Hound puppies |
