Another cloning first achieved in horses
Researchers in Texas have achieved a cloning
first with the successful delivery of a foal using egg
cells, called oocytes, from a live mare.
The foal, named
Mouse, was born thanks to the efforts of researchers at
the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.
"I've always liked having three horses to ride," said
Kit Knotts, proud owner of Mouse.
"I called and emailed breeders to spread the word
that I was looking. Everything I could turn up was either
too small, too young, too old, not quite sound, etc. I
realised I didn't want just another horse to have another
body in the barn, I wanted another Marc."
Knotts' efforts to find a horse that had the same qualities
as her prized lipizzaner stallion, Marc, (Pluto III Marcella)
would lead her to Texas A&M University and equine reproduction
expert, Dr Katrin Hinrichs.
"My local veterinarian, Dr Brad Newman, mentioned
that Texas A&M was cloning, but it was when Dr Adam
Eichelberger joined Newman Equine that we began to pursue
the possibilities."
Dr Hinrichs' lab is noted for achieving the first cloned
foal in North America, and the third in the world with
Paris Texas, who arrived in 2005.
<< Katrin Hinrichs
The lab has since produced 12 cloned foals. Currently,
there are only three labs in the world that have reported
the successful birth of cloned horses - Texas A&M University,
Viagen (a commercial venture based in Texas) and the lab
of Dr Cesare Galli, in Italy.
"We have worked on this clone for about two years," said
Hinrichs, a professor in the Department of Veterinary Physiology
and Pharmacology.
"This is actually our first foal produced using oocytes,
or egg cells, from live mares. We recovered the oocytes
from our herd of research mares using the same method used
to recover eggs from women for in vitro fertilisation.
"We used the oocytes for the cloning process, which
made it difficult as we had very few to work with at any
one time. During the cloning process, we tested a new technique
that has been reported in mice to decrease birthing problems.
"Mrs Knotts has been very supportive of our efforts
to clone her horse, and has even named the foal Mouse in
honor of the research that produced him."
The process began with a biopsy of skin cells from Marc,
the horse to be cloned. Through the cloning process using
oocytes recovered from a live mare, viable embryos were developed
and sent to Hartman Equine Reproduction Centre, an embryo
transfer facility in North Texas which works closely with
Hinrichs' lab, for transfer into surrogate mares.
Minnie, the mare carrying Mouse, stayed in North Texas
for about 200 days, then was sent to her new home in Florida.
Mouse the lipizzaner foal was cloned from egg cells. >>
Minnie began to show signs of an early delivery, and was
taken to the University of Florida College of Veterinary
Medicine for observation and intervention.
That's where Mouse arrived and was cared for by a team
of neonatal experts that helped make sure he would make
it through this critical time.
"Having Minnie with us for several months prior to
foaling has been great," added Knotts. "The
teamwork between Dr Hinrichs and her colleagues at the
University of Florida has been outstanding, frankly saving
Mouse's life more than once before and after birth.
Hinrichs noted that while Mouse is truly an identical
twin to the original horse, Marc, there will be differences
as the foal grows due to environmental influences.
"I have become really interested in the science involved," notes
Knotts.
Mouse meets Marc, from whom he was cloned
>>
"Dr Hinrichs has been wonderful about keeping me
up on what is going on in the lab and feeds my interest
by explaining things in terms I can largely understand.
"I am very proud of the contributions our project
has made to the body of knowledge about cloning, which
benefits far more areas of equine reproduction than most
realise."
