The calf was named Decembrist
In Russia, a cloned cow gave birth for the first time. On December 30, a healthy calf was born in the Moscow region, TASS writes with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Moscow Region.
The calf was called the Decembrist, it weighs 40 kilograms. The ministry called it a great achievement of specialists from the Federal Research Center for Animal Husbandry.
“I would like to congratulate our cloned cow on such a wonderful event, the birth of a daughter. Seriously speaking, genomic editing methods and reproductive technologies should soon bear fruit in the form of creating farm animals with improved properties, ”Peter Sergiev, associate professor at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), professor at Moscow State University (MGU), told Snob.
The scientist said that the team has mastered the editing of the cells of cows and chickens. In addition, work is underway on sheep cages, Sergiev said.
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In April 2020, scientists from the Ernst All-Russian Research Institute of Animal Husbandry, Skoltech and Moscow State University obtained the first cow clone in Russia using somatic cell nuclei as donors. In addition, the researchers knocked out genes for the protein beta-lactoglobulin, which makes people allergic to milk.
The born heifer was named Flower because of the name of the cell line. The scientists cloned the calf using somatic cell nuclear transfer technology. The team used embryonic fibroblasts as nuclear donors.
The department believes that it is necessary to continue research for the development of somatic cloning, which allows for genomic editing of cattle.
In 2018, Chinese scientists cloned a cynomolgus macaque using the same technique used to clone Dolly the sheep. In 2021, American researchers cloned the critically endangered black-footed ferret.
