Korean Scientist Successfully Clones a Cat

A Korean scientist successfully cloned a cat for the first time.

Nature, a British science journal, published an article on Dr. Shin Taeyoung (37) and a research team at the Texas A&M University who cloned a cat using an adult female cat`s somatic cell in its online edition on the 14th. This article will be published in Nature, which will be printed at the end of this month.

The cloned cat, which was named `CC` is the only survivor among 87 cloned embryos that were transferred into 8 recipient female cats.

The research team obtained 5 cloned embryos derived from cumulus and fibroblast cells and transferred them into a recipient cat. Among them, an embryo derived from a cumulus cell was successfully grown, and a kitten was delivered by caesarian section on December 22nd 2001. The two months old kitten CC is very healthy.

Although sheep, goats, cows, and pigs, and experiment animals such as mice, have been cloned, this is the first time that a pet was cloned.

Prof. Hwang Woo-Seok (veterinary science), who successfully cloned a cow, at the Seoul National University said, "For the cloning scientists, the cloning of felid animals was the most difficult project. The result of this cat cloning will help the reproduction of other felid animals, including the cloning of the Mt. Baekdu Tiger."

Dr. Shin received his degree from Seoul National University and is participating in the cat cloning project at Texas A&M University. He is the first author of this article.

puset@donga.com