Carbon copy cat cloned

TOM CLARKE

Cc: the carbon copy kitten

Researchers in Texas are the first to successfully clone a domestic cat¹. Although the two-month-old kitten is just another addition to the growing list of successfully cloned animals, her birth may mark the beginning of a pet cloning era.

The carbon copy kitten called 'Cc:' appears healthy and energetic, although she is completely unlike her tabby surrogate mother.

Mark Westhusin and colleagues at Texas A&M University, College Station, created Cc: by transplanting DNA from a female three-coloured (tortoiseshell or calico) cat into an egg cell whose nucleus had been removed. They then implanted this embryo into the surrogate tabby.

Cc:'s coat colour suggests that she is a clone. A genetic match between Cc: and the donor mother confirms this, the researchers say.

She does not, however, look identical to her DNA donor. The pattern on cats' coats is only partly genetically determined - it also depends on other factors during development.

Out of 87 implanted cloned embryos, Cc: is the only one to survive - comparable to the success rate in sheep, mice, cows, goats and pigs. If these odds can be shortened and Cc: remains in good health the possibility of pet cloning and concomitant ethical problems, could be just a whisker away.

1. Taeyoung, S. et al. A cat cloned by nuclear transplantation. Nature advanced online publication, (2002). |Article|