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Calf cloning

WASHINGTON: Six identical calves conceived from a bull's cells that spent up to three months in vitro before being cloned could prove helpful for future gene manipulation methods, according to a study to be published.

US and Japanese researchers said these results help counter the belief that the long-term culture of donor cells would compromise or destroy the possibility of cloning, according to the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In fact, researchers from the University of Connecticut at Storrs said, it may prove just the opposite and could enable gene manipulation prior to cloning.

"These findings are novel and unexpected," said the lead author of the study, professor Xiangzhong Yang, the head of the university's Transgenic Animal Facility Kogashima Cattle Breeding Development Institute.ÑAFP