PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsBengal cat is cloned using new, safer technique

BioNews

Bengal cat is cloned using new, safer technique

Published 9 June 2009 posted in News and appears in BioNews 270

Author

BioNews

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).

Two cloned kittens have been born using a new, safer cloning technique, an American biotechnology company says. Genetics Saving and Clone cloned Tabouleh and Baba Ganoush from 'Tahini', a female Bengal cat belonging to Lou Hawthorne, the Chief Executive Officer of the company. The kittens are not the first to...

Two cloned kittens have been born using a new, safer cloning technique, an American biotechnology company says. Genetics Saving and Clone cloned Tabouleh and Baba Ganoush from 'Tahini', a female Bengal cat belonging to Lou Hawthorne, the Chief Executive Officer of the company. The kittens are not the first to be born from cloning: Cc, the cloned kitten, was born in 2002.


The company used a method called chromatin transfer, rather than the more usual method of nuclear transfer, the technique that was used to create Dolly the sheep. Nuclear transfer involves taking the nucleus, which contains the DNA, from a cell, and transferring it to an egg that has had its own nucleus removed. When stimulated, the egg is 'tricked' into developing as if it had been fertilised. The method is not very effective: many eggs fail to develop and there have been some serious side effects in some animals that have been born using the technique.


Chromatin transfer, by contrast, aims to create an embryo that more closely resembles a normal embryo. The technique involves dissolving the outside of the nucleus in the cell to be cloned and removing some chromosomal proteins that regulate development, and other proteins around the chromosomes. The resulting cell, with its 'permeable' nucleus, is then fused with an egg cell. The method is used frequently in cattle cloning.


The cat cloning technique has not been submitted for peer review in a scientific journal, but Genetics Saving and Clone says it is less interested in the scientific questions and medical implications of cloning than in its business model - cloning people's pets. The company says it has already contracted to produce five more cat clones for customers by the end of 2004, at $50,000 a piece. It also hopes to have perfected dog cloning by the same time.

Related Articles

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
Comment
18 June 2009 • 1 minute read

Taking carbon kitty too seriously?

by Juliet Tizzard

As we report in this week's BioNews, scientists in the United States have cloned a cat. Carbon copy (Cc), as the little creature is known, has caused rather a lot of excitement on both sides of the Atlantic, with many column inches being dedicated to the development. Some commentators have...

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Cat cloning company is closing

by Laura Goodall

By Laura Goodall: A US business specialising in cloning pets is closing its doors. Genetic Savings and Clone, a biotechnology company based at Sausalito in California, has announced to its customers that it will no longer be open for business at the end of this year. In letters to its...

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
News
9 June 2009 • 1 minute read

Copy kitten

by BioNews

Scientists in Texas, US, announced last week that they have successfully cloned a domestic cat. Mark Westhusin and his colleagues at the Texas A&M University report the process in the 21 February issue of Nature. The kitten, called 'Cc', for carbon copy, is now two months old and appears...

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
News
9 June 2009 • 1 minute read

US company offers to clone pets

by BioNews

Texas-based company, Genetics Savings and Clone, is offering bereaved animal-lovers the chance to 'reincarnate' their dead pets. For a mere $2,500, the firm will take cells from a dead or dying animal and store them until they can be cloned. 'It's a major scientific challenge, but the team is 90...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Migrating stem cells may treat stroke victims

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Popular
  • Recent
13 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Drop in diversity of blood stem cells leads to old-age health issues

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

UK report reveals public attitudes to fertility, genomics and embryo research

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Shortage of sperm donors despite men willing to donate

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

North East London CCG proposes offering three funded IVF cycles

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Fibrosis drugs reverse ovarian ageing in mice

27 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Gene implicated in motor neurone diseases discovered

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856