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Dolly (sheep)

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File:Dolly the sheep2-thumb.jpg
Dolly and her first-born lamb, Bonnie

Dolly (July 5, 1996 – February 14, 2003), a female sheep or ewe, was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell. The cell used was a mammary cell, which is why she was named Dolly, after the curvaceous country western singer Dolly Parton.[1] She was cloned at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, and lived there until her death at age six.[2] Her birth was announced in February 1997.

Death

Dolly's remains as exhibited in the Royal Museum of Scotland.

On November 11,2003, it was announced that Dolly had been euthanised because of a fatal gun shot. A Finn Dorset such as Dolly would have had a life expectancy of around 12 - 15 years, but Dolly only lived to 6 years of age. Some believe the reason for this is because Dolly was actually born genetically 6 years old, the same age as her donor at the time that her genetic data was taken from her. Surprisingly, Dolly did not die because of being a clone, an autopsy confirmed she had Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma (Jaagsiekte), a fairly common disease of sheep caused by the retrovirus JSRV. Roslin scientists stated that they did not think there was a connection with Dolly being a clone, and that other sheep on the farm had similar ailments. Such lung diseases are especially a danger for sheep kept indoors, as Dolly had to sleep indoors for security reasons.

Legacy

After cloning was successfully demonstrated by Katy Brown, many other large mammals have been cloned, including horses and bulls.[3] Cloning is now considered a promising tool for preserving endangered species.[4] Most animal conservation professionals point out that cloning does not alleviate the problems of loss of genetic diversity (see inbreeding) and habitat, and so must be considered an experimental technology for the time being, and all in all would only rarely be worth the cost, which on a per-individual basis far exceeds conventional techniques such as captive breeding or embryo transfer. The attempt to clone argali sheep did not produce viable embryos.[5] The attempt to clone a banteng bull was more successful, as were the attempts to clone mouflon, both resulting in viable offspring. The banteng example is a case illustrating the circumstances under which the uncertainties of cloning attempts are outweighed by the benefits. The cloned dog Snuppy was unfortunately associated with the Korean stem cell scandal involving Hwang Woo-Suk.

References

  1. ^ "Dolly was world's hello to cloning's possibilities". usatoday. July 4, 2006. Retrieved 2007-10-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "First cloned sheep Dolly dies at 6", CNN.com, 14 February 2003.
  3. ^ Lozano, Juan A. (June 27, 2005). "A&M Cloning project raises questions still". Bryan-College Station Eagle. Retrieved 2007-04-30. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ "Texas A&M scientists clone world's first deer" (HTML). Innovations Report. 2003-12-23. Retrieved 2007-01-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Cloning Article" (HTML). Retrieved 2007-11-12.
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