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Scientists Say They've Cloned a Horse
yahoo.com/ AP ^ | 08/06/03 | RICK CALLAHAN

Posted on 08/06/2003 1:11:30 PM PDT by Mark

Scientists Say They've Cloned a Horse

By RICK CALLAHAN, Associated Press Writer

Scientists in Italy say they have created the world's first cloned horse, raising the possibility of a sequel to the next Seabiscuit or a carbon copy of Kentucky Derby champion Funny Cide.

The small, sturdy work horse is now two months old, weighs about 220 pounds and is in excellent health, said its creators. Their announcement beats a Texas A&M team awaiting the birth of its own horse clone.

The cloned Haflinger horse is named Prometea after Prometheus, the character in Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans.

In a twist for the growing barnyard of cloned animals, the Haflinger mare that gave birth to the Promotea was also the source of her DNA, meaning she and her foal are identical twins.

Now that horse-cloning has arrived, it could allow the replication of valuable horses or endangered breeds, said Cesare Galli, director of the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology in Cremona, Italy.

"The most obvious use is to give a sterile animal or animals that die or can't breed because of some disease a chance to reproduce," Galli said.

The cloning details are described in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Prometea was born just two weeks after the first member of the equine family — a mule — was cloned at the University of Idaho. Researchers there have since produced two more cloned mules, which are a hybrid of a donkey and a horse.

Scientific differences in the two cloning projects are striking.

The mules were cloned from cells extracted from developing mule fetuses. But Prometea's DNA came from her adult mother's skin cells. Cloning adult DNA has proven more difficult than copying fetal DNA.

There were other differences. The Idaho team harvested fertile eggs, one at a time, from mares. They then removed the nucleus of each egg and inserted DNA from cells of a mule fetus. Those reconstructed eggs were surgically implanted into the wombs of female horses.

Galli's team, however, harvested hundreds of eggs from mare carcasses at a slaughterhouse. They cultured the eggs, removed their DNA and replaced it with DNA taken from either adult male or female horse skin cells.

Out of a total of 841 reconstructed embryos, only 22 developed to advanced embryos within about a week. Seventeen of those were introduced into nine mares, resulting in four pregnancies, but only one, Prometea, developed to full term.

It was delivered naturally and unassisted on May 28.

To date, horses, mules, sheep, cows, pigs, cats and rodents have been cloned. No primates have been cloned. Their cases have raised questions about clones' health.

Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized this year after she contracted a common livestock disease and her cells showed signs of premature aging.

Gordon Woods, who led the University of Idaho mule-cloning team, said the successes in cloning equines could open the door to cloning racing champions, or horses with other sought-after traits.

For example, Funny Cide, the winner of both this year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness races, is a gelding, or a castrated male.

Geldings were widely thought to be uncompetitive. Funny Cide otherwise would've been a lucrative stud horse. Cloning him would keep his champion genes in play.

"If one could clone Funny Cide, the clone of him could be the stud. He could pass on the genetics," Woods said.

But Texas A&M research veterinarian Katrin Hinrichs, leader of the rival horse cloning group, said clones would be rejected by the Jockey Club, which registers thoroughbred horses.

Hinrichs is awaiting the birth of a cloned American quarter horse — a copy of Hinrichs' 9-year-old daughter's show horse — in mid-November. She believes cloning's most obvious use in the horse industry would be cloning such show horses.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: agriculture; animalhusbandry; bioethics; cloning; dietandcuisine; domestication; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; horse; horses; huntergatherers; italy; science
Hmmm......why does John Kerry come to mind.
1 posted on 08/06/2003 1:11:31 PM PDT by Mark
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To: Mark
It's interesting to note that the marking are slightly different. Look at the nose in the pictures. Is it really the same genes?
2 posted on 08/06/2003 1:27:22 PM PDT by Only1choice____Freedom (If everything you experienced, believed, lived was a lie, would you want to know the truth?)
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To: Mark

"Hello...I'm Mrs. Ed."

3 posted on 08/06/2003 1:33:48 PM PDT by My2Cents ("Well....there you go again.")
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To: Mark
"If one could clone Funny Cide, the clone of him could be the stud. He could pass on the genetics," Woods said. I thought clones were incapable of reproducing.
4 posted on 08/06/2003 1:34:47 PM PDT by My2Cents ("Well....there you go again.")
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To: My2Cents
He said horse, not horse's a$%
5 posted on 08/06/2003 1:34:55 PM PDT by breakem
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To: breakem
LOL...
6 posted on 08/06/2003 1:35:13 PM PDT by My2Cents ("Well....there you go again.")
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To: My2Cents
There's be no reason that I know of that a clone would be incapable of reproducing.

This could make horse racing really, really boring.

7 posted on 08/06/2003 1:36:10 PM PDT by dead (Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!)
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To: Mark

8 posted on 08/06/2003 1:38:59 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: Mark

9 posted on 08/06/2003 1:39:00 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: Mark

10 posted on 08/06/2003 1:39:19 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: Mark
Just in time for the Dumo primaries. But they don't need the whole horse....
11 posted on 08/06/2003 1:39:58 PM PDT by tracer (/b>)
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To: Revolting cat!
That's three horses, not just one!
12 posted on 08/06/2003 1:40:20 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: Mark

13 posted on 08/06/2003 1:42:54 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: Mark
And it sings too!


14 posted on 08/06/2003 1:47:08 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: Mark
And plays a mean gittar!


15 posted on 08/06/2003 1:50:00 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: Mark
WHAT? We don't have enough whores on street corners that they have to be cloned now?


16 posted on 08/06/2003 2:05:31 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: Only1choice____Freedom
I remember reading that a horse's markings develop in a mosaic fashion. In other words, it's a partially random process. I don't know if that's correct.

I do not remember reading anything about a successful male clone. Has anyone else? Funny Cide may not KNOW he's male anymore, but he's got genes that would remember if his larger "packet" wasn't missing.
17 posted on 08/06/2003 2:10:09 PM PDT by ChemistCat (Transformers look just as good by morning light as they did the night before.)
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To: Mark
Hmmm......why does John Kerry come to mind.

Mr. Ed: "Oooohhh Wilbur."

Wilbur: "Why the long face, Ed?"

18 posted on 08/06/2003 2:14:26 PM PDT by Cobra64 (Babes should wear Bullet Bras - www.BulletBras.net)
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To: breakem
He said horse, not horse's a$%

Just so we're on the same page; her butt IS the size of an jack-ass' A$$.

19 posted on 08/06/2003 2:17:50 PM PDT by Cobra64 (Babes should wear Bullet Bras - www.BulletBras.net)
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Note: this topic is from 8/06/2003. Barely hanging on as a GGG topic. Thanks Mark.

20 posted on 06/20/2015 12:48:37 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW)
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