Survival of the first cloned rhesus monkey in China
The first rhesus monkey cloned in China lived for 3 years.
A cloned monkey named Retro was born on July 16, 2020 and has surpassed expectations by surviving for more than two years, raising hopes for medical treatments.
According to Isna, citing IA, the first cloned rhesus monkey in China has exceeded expectations by surviving for more than two years. Notably, this is the longest survival period for any cloned rhesus macaque to date.
This achievement was in stark contrast to previous attempts to clone rhesus monkeys, in which either no live births occurred or the offspring died within hours.
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced that Retro continues to maintain its health and steadily grows stronger with each passing day.
The importance of this achievement lies in the potential for the advancement of medical research. Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) are widely used as animal models in scientific studies due to their physiological similarities to humans.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences believe that successful retro-cloning can speed up drug testing processes and provide genetically identical subjects to obtain more accurate and reliable test results.
In 2018, the Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully cloned another species of monkey, the cynomolgus or long-tailed monkey, and these clones are still alive today.
How did this monkey come about?
Scientists used somatic or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to produce a monkey clone. This technology allows the production of genetically identical organisms.
This method requires removing the nucleus of a corporal cell and transferring it to an egg cell (oocyte) whose nucleus has been removed or deactivated.
This method was also used to clone Dolly the sheep in 1996. According to reports, more than 20 different animals have been cloned using this method, including dogs, cats, pigs, and cows.
However, cloning rhesus monkeys was a challenging task for the research team, who faced several failed attempts before achieving success.
The early clones were not successful due to aberrant growth of the outer membrane responsible for placental formation in the early cloned embryos. The placenta is essential for providing oxygen and nutrition to the developing fetus.
According to CNN, researchers implemented a corrective measure called internal cell mass transplantation to overcome this problem. Placing the cloned cells into a non-cloned embryo allowed the clone to develop normally.
In simpler terms, cells that become placentas are replaced with cells from healthy, non-cloned embryos.
The team extensively tested this method with 113 cloned embryos. Of these, 11 cases were transferred to seven hosts and only one live birth was performed. The cloned monkey is called Retro because of this method, which is called ReTro.
The researchers say this method has the potential to significantly increase the success rate of cloning. In addition, there are ethical concerns about the use of monkeys in scientific research, mainly rooted in concerns about animal welfare.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
