title: Pregnancy: a cloned horse born to its dam twin.
abstract: Several animal species, including sheep, mice, cattle, goats, rabbits, cats, pigs and, more recently, mules have been reproduced by somatic cell cloning, with the offspring being a genetic copy of the animal donor of the nuclear material used for transfer into an enucleated oocyte. Here we use this technology to clone an adult horse and show that it is possible to establish a viable, full-term pregnancy in which the surrogate mother is also the nuclear donor. The cloned offspring is therefore genetically identical to the mare who carried it, challenging the idea that maternal immunological recognition of fetal antigens influences the well-being of the fetus and the outcome of the pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Tecnologie della Riproduzione, CIZ srl, Istituto Sperimentale Italiano Lazzaro Spallanzani, 26100 Cremona, Italy. cesare@galli2.191.it
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Galli
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lagutina
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Crotti
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Colleoni
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Turini
authors.forename: Nunzia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ponderato
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duchi
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lazzari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D019976:Cloning, Organism; D005260:Female; D006736:Horses / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018448:Models, Immunological; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics