A mouse has been cloned from a single drop of blood, Japanese scientists have reported. Blood cells from a donor mouse's tail were collected and used to make the cloned female mouse, which went on to reproduce and live a regular lifespan.
Japanese scientists have previously cloned mice using cells from various sources, such as white blood cells found in the liver and lymph nodes. The difference this time was that the circulating blood cells, as they are known, were taken from the tail of another mouse.
The researchers, from the Riken BioResource Centre, wanted to find a straightforward source of donor cells to clone laboratory mice.
The researchers, from the Riken BioResource Centre, wanted to find a straightforward source of donor cells to clone laboratory mice.
After extracting the blood, they isolated the white blood cells, and used the nuclei to do the cloning - using the same procedure that created Dolly the sheep, BBC News reports.
The technique, called somatic cell nuclear transfer, involves a donor cell nucleus being transferred to an egg cell whose own nuclear DNA has been removed. The egg develops into an early-stage embryo that is a clone of the donor, containing the same genes. Stem cells taken from the embryo are 'pluripotent', having the ability - with the right coaxing - to mature into any kind of tissue in the body, from brain to bone.
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