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Veterinary Researchers Achieve Cloning First
by Angela Clendenin
Researchers at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) have achieved another
cloning first with the successful delivery of a foal using oocytes
from a live mare, the first such clone in the world.
Photos of Mouse and Marc provided by Ben and Kit Knotts.
The delivery of the foal highlights Texas A&M's long
tradition of leading science in equine reproduction and has been a
great experience for the owner of the new foal.
"I've always liked having three horses to ride," said Kit
Knotts, proud owner of Mouse, the foal that represents the
successful cloning efforts and the latest in equine reproduction
science at the CVM. "I called and emailed breeders to spread the
word that I was looking. Everything I could turn up was either too
small, too young, too old, not quite sound, etc. I realized I
didn't want just another horse to have another body in the barn, I
wanted another Marc."
Knotts' efforts to find a horse that had the same qualities as
her prized Lipizzan stallion, Marc, (Pluto III Marcella) would lead
her to Texas A&M University and equine reproduction expert, Dr.
Katrin Hinrichs.
"My local veterinarian, Dr. Brad Newman, mentioned that Texas
A&M was cloning, but it was when Dr. Adam Eichelberger joined
Newman Equine that we began to pursue the possibilities."
Dr. Hinrichs' lab is noted for achieving the first cloned foal
in North America, and the third in the world with Paris Texas, who
arrived in 2005. The lab has since produced twelve cloned foals.
Currently there are only three labs in the world that have reported
the successful birth of cloned horses: Texas A&M University,
Viagen (a commercial venture based in Texas), and the lab of Dr.
Cesare Galli, in Italy.
Photos of Mouse and Marc provided by Ben and Kit Knotts.
"We have worked on this clone for about two years," said
Hinrichs, a professor in the Department of Veterinary Physiology
& Pharmacology. "This is actually our first foal produced using
oocytes, or egg cells, from live mares. We recovered the oocytes
from our herd of research mares using the same method used to
recover eggs from women for in vitro fertilization. We used the
oocytes for the cloning process, which made it difficult as we had
very few to work with at any one time. During the cloning process,
we tested a new technique that has been reported in mice to
decrease birthing problems. Mrs. Knotts has been very supportive of
our efforts to clone her horse, and has even named the foal 'Mouse'
in honor of the research that produced him."
The process began with a biopsy of skin cells from Marc, the
horse to be cloned. Through the cloning process using oocytes
recovered from a live mare, viable embryos were developed and sent
to Hartman Equine Reproduction Center, an embryo transfer facility
in North Texas which works closely with Hinrichs' lab, for transfer
into surrogate mares. Minnie, the mare carrying Mouse, stayed in
North Texas for approximately 200 days, then was sent to her new
home in Florida.
Minnie began to show signs of an early delivery, and was taken to
the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine for
observation and intervention. That's where Mouse arrived and was
cared for by a team of neonatal experts that helped make sure he
would make it through this critical time.
Photos of Mouse and Marc provided by Ben and Kit Knotts.
"Having Minnie with us for several months prior to foaling has
been great," added Knotts. "The teamwork between Dr. Hinrichs and
her colleagues at the University of Florida has been outstanding,
frankly saving Mouse's life more than once before and after
birth.
Hinrichs noted that while Mouse is truly an identical twin to
the original horse, Marc, that there will be differences as the
foal grows due to environmental influences.
"I have become really interested in the science involved," notes
Knotts. "Dr. Hinrichs has been wonderful about keeping me informed
about what is going on in the lab and feeds my interest by
explaining things in terms I can largely understand. I am very
proud of the contributions our project has made to the body of
knowledge about cloning, which benefits far more areas of equine
reproduction than most realize."
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