Scientists Cloned Mice From Freeze-Dried Skin Cells, Opening the Door to Biopreservation:
On the surface, Dorami was just an average mouse. She grew to a healthy weight, had pups of her own, and died naturally near her second birthday—roughly 70 years in human age, and completely unexceptional for a lab mouse.
Except for one thing: Dorami was cloned from freeze-dried cells. And not just any cell—she was cloned from somatic cells (the cells that make up our bodies) rather than sperm or eggs.
Dorami is the latest foray into a decades-long push to use cloning as a way to preserve biodiversity. The triumph of Dolly the sheep made it clear that it's possible to revive animals using reproductive cells. The dream of restoring extinct animals, or biobanking current ones, has captured the imagination of scientists ever since. One powerful way to preserve a species' DNA is to store sperm in liquid nitrogen. At roughly -320 degrees Fahrenheit, the cells can be frozen in time for years.
But there's one hiccup. Collecting reproductive cells from animals on the brink of extinction is—to put it mildly—extremely difficult. In contrast, scratching off a few skin cells or shaving some fur is relatively simple. These cells contain the animal's complete DNA, but they're fragile.
The new study, led by Dr. Teruhiko Wakayama at the University of Yamanashi in Japan, made the leap from sperm to skin. Developing a highly technical recipe that would make any fine-dining chef proud, the team successfully cloned 75 healthy mice from freeze-dried somatic cells collected from both male and female donors. Many offspring, including Dorami, went on to have pups of their own.
With a success rate of roughly five percent at most—and as low as 0.2 percent—the technique is far from efficient. But the strategy carves a path towards the bigger picture: our ability to store and potentially revive genetic variations of near-extinct species.
[...] Ultimately, this is just the first step. Somatic cells are easier to capture compared to reproductive ones, especially for infertile or juvenile animals. Doing it easier and cheaper is a plus. The team is now looking to capture genetic material from cadavers or feces to broaden the scope.
Journal Reference:
Wakayama, Sayaka, Ito, Daiyu, Hayashi, Erika, et al. Healthy cloned offspring derived from freeze-dried somatic cells [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31216-4)
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday July 14 2022, @07:08AM (3 children)
I can't be the only one who thought of her first when reading this.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday July 14 2022, @07:36AM (2 children)
I had to look it up..... I will return my geek-card by post.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Opportunist on Thursday July 14 2022, @08:21AM
Just drop it into the shredder provided.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 15 2022, @07:59PM
https://youtu.be/7vFGKHzY_38 [youtu.be]
(Score: 2) by Username on Thursday July 14 2022, @12:43PM (2 children)
I can understand preserving nature, but not every animal in nature. We don't need velociraptors or dodos running around.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Friday July 15 2022, @07:19PM (1 child)
Dodos were large birds, and reported to be tasty. They might make a good alternative to chicken and turkey.
(Score: 2) by Username on Friday July 15 2022, @11:57PM
Deer and turkeys are bad enough, I don't need to be hitting these dumb birds with my car too. Anything larger than lassie should be culled and the rest put in a zoo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @01:22PM
Cloning won't bring back your family, friend, favorite pet, etc. They can clone DNA, but the things that made them who they were won't be there. This process will be good for trying to save endangered species. Maybe even a good thing for people to clone rhino horn, tiger blood, or anything else they are poaching animals for.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by oumuamua on Thursday July 14 2022, @01:48PM (2 children)
It is cool they can do this but is no way to preserve a species. You have 4 huge obstacles:
1) You need a closely related animal to host the pregnancy.
2) The new-born animal now has no parent to teach it.
3) There is insufficient gene pool to restart the species unless you store hundreds of gene samples for each species.
4) Sufficient habitat must be set aside so the species can survive.
Whereas to preserve the species NOW, before it goes extinct, all we need to do is the last one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @09:36PM
》Whereas to preserve the species NOW, before it goes extinct, all we need to do is the last one.
And convince the locals not to eat them, if the habitat is located in Africa or Asia.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 15 2022, @08:01PM
Last one? Don't you normally need a breeding pair? Or are you talking about pickling that last one? ;)
(Score: 1) by jman on Friday July 15 2022, @12:30PM
Under the currently repressive drunk-dream philosophy of several US states, look to laws saying that anyone found selling Selsum Blue is to be arrested and charged with "murder"...