Cloning. Pigs is pigs.
Since the first report of a cloned animal (Dolly the sheep) 3 years ago, cloning mammals has become something of a cottage industry. As Prather discusses in his Perspective, pigs can now be added to the august list of cloned animals, which includes cows, goats, and mice. This is a particularly spectacular achievement because pig cloning has turned out to be notoriously difficult. The pig is also a valuable domestic animal to have cloned because, being physiologically close to humans, its organs can be used in xenotransplantation.
Prather
R S
RS
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. pratherR@missouri.edu
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019976:Cloning, Organism; D003470:Culture Media; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques; D009865:Oocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D013552:Swine / Q000821:virology*; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
D003470:Culture Media