The first goat to be cloned using an adult cell died last week, shortly after being born. The goat, called Yuanyuan, was cloned by a team of Chinese scientists using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) - the 'Dolly technique'.
The researchers removed the genetic information from a donor egg cell and replaced it with the nucleus of an adult ear cell. The egg was then activated and placed in the womb of a surrogate mother goat to grow and develop. But Yuanyuan died just 36 hours after birth, because of severe lung problems. Professor Zhang Yong, of Northwest University, Xian, China said: 'The death means that cloning technology leaves much room for improvement.
Three biotech firms have reported successfully cloning goats, but they used fetal skin cells rather than adult cells.
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