[Explanation] On September 14, it has been 8 months since the birth of the first cloned cat "Ping An" in China The breeding research stage of cats.
At present, the scientific research team is selecting breeding targets for "Peace", and three male British longhair cats have entered the shortlist.
[Concurrent] Zhao Minghui, Associate Professor of Qingdao Agricultural University, Head of Feline Somatic Cell Cloning Research Group
In July of this year, it first appeared in heat, and we saw that it has reached a state of sexual maturity, and we are ready to do it for marriage.
Our requirements for male cats are, first of all, to be as consistent as possible with the breeds of our cloned cats, and secondly, they have no genetic diseases. If there are genetic diseases, the offspring may have abnormal behaviors, which affects our evaluation of the data.
[Explanation] "Ping An" is the separation and culture of fibroblasts from the skin tissue of an adult female cat, using the Chinese Pastoral Cat egg as the nuclear receptor, through nuclear replacement and artificial activation, to produce multiple somatic cloned embryos, and finally It was born on December 24, 2020 and weighed 75 grams at birth.
Zhao Minghui, associate professor of Qingdao Agricultural University and head of the feline somatic cell cloning research group, told reporters that if the biological information is inherited, it means that the cat is normal.
[Concurrent] Zhao Minghui, Associate Professor of Qingdao Agricultural University, Head of Feline Somatic Cell Cloning Research Group
How to evaluate whether a cloned animal is normal, in addition to seeing whether it is normal from the outside after it is born, whether its growth is normal, including some molecular mechanisms, and metabolically abnormal.
So a very important indicator for organisms is reproductive ability. If the cat cannot reproduce, obviously our clone has failed.
[Explanation] Cats are important experimental animals. Mastering cat somatic cell cloning technology can not only better develop cat gene editing technology, but also promote the research and development of animal disease models and drugs, in the field of biomedicine, pet industry and endangered Both have an important role in species protection.
Zhao Minghui said that the closest thing to the public is the cloning of pets.
[Concurrent] Zhao Minghui, Associate Professor of Qingdao Agricultural University, Head of Feline Somatic Cell Cloning Research Group
Many people raise cats as pets. When the pet is old or dies, many people hope to reproduce the cat.
We know that within a few days after the animal dies, the skin cells will not die. In this case, we can restore this life to the form of an animal body through cloning technology, which is a kind of comfort for the pet owner's psychology.
[Explanation] At present, China's cloning technology is at an advanced level in the world. Although the cloning technology in the United States, Japan, and South Korea has developed early, in recent years China has made research on cloning technology, and cloned cows, cloned dogs, cloned cats, etc. Many species have completed cloning experiments on non-human primates for the first time. Few countries in the world have so many cloned species.
(Reporting by Yang Fei and Hu Yaojie from Qingdao)
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]