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CLONING
"While the cloning of companion animals is not yet possible, Advanced Cell Technology is currently able to store cells from your animal now."
-ACT Web site, 15 February 2002.
ACT needs to update its Web site. Last week, scientists in Texas unveiled the first clone of a pet-a kitten named CC, short for Copy Cat (also Carbon Copy). The kitty is the fruit of a privately funded initiative, Operation CopyCat, started a year ago by Mark Westhusin and colleagues at Texas A&M University, College Station. It's actually part of a larger and much more difficult project that aims to clone a dog.
The researchers, who report their feat in the 21 February issue of Nature, say cat cloning is just about as efficient (or inefficient) as duplicating mice, cows, sheep, goats, or pigs. Westhusin's team first attempted to use skin fibroblast cells, inserting their nuclei into enucleated cat eggs. Although 82 cloned embryos were implanted into seven surrogate mother cats, only one pregnancy resulted,...