Koreans produce world’s first cloned dog

Brave new world for puppies?
Animal welfare groups criticized the experiment. “This technology could lead to a brave new world of puppy production if it were hijacked by profiteers seeking to use cloning to supply the pet trade,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States.

The researchers nicknamed their canine creation Snuppy, for “Seoul National University puppy,” a reference to Hwang’s lab. One of the dog’s co-creators, Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, described Snuppy, now 14 weeks old, as “a frisky, healthy, normal, rambunctious puppy.”

On scientific terms, the experiment’s success was mixed. Like Dolly, Snuppy was created using a method called somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Scientists took a skin cell from the ear of a 3-year-old male Afghan hound and extracted genetic material from the nucleus. They transferred it to an unfertilized egg whose nucleus was removed. The reconstructed egg holding the DNA from the donor cell was zapped with an electric current to stimulate cell division.

Woo-suk Hwang via Nature Snuppy sits alongside his surrogate mother, a yellow Labrador retriever.

Dog eggs have been problematic because they are released from the ovary at an earlier, less mature stage than in other mammal. This time, the researchers collected more mature eggs from the donors’ fallopian tubes.

They implanted 1,095 cloned embryos into 123 dogs and just three pregnancies resulted. That’s a cloning efficiency rate lower than experiments with cats and horses. One fetus miscarried, and one puppy died of pneumonia 22 days after birth.

That left Snuppy. He was delivered by Caesarean section from his surrogate mother, a yellow Labrador retriever.

Implications for humans, and hounds
Schatten said nuclear transfer technology is a key step in investigating the root causes and potential treatments of diseases that canines and humans share, including cancer, diabetes and joint deterioration.

If stem cells from cloned embryos can be used to treat dogs safely and effectively, he said, “we may also know whether it’s safe and effective for our loved ones.”

More immediately, the experiment’s outcome encouraged the commercial pet-cloning industry, which replicates beloved dead pets. A cloned-to-order kitten was produced in late 2004 for $50,000 by Genetic Savings & Clone Inc. of Sausalito, Calif., which hopes to commercially clone a dog within a year.

Schatten and Hwang’s group chose to clone an Afghan hound because its genetic profile is relatively pure. But dog experts said the researchers’ choice was disquieting.

“The Afghan hound is not a particularly intelligent dog, but it is beautiful,” said psychologist Stanley Coren, author of the best-selling manual “The Intelligence of Dogs.” He ranked the dog last among 119 breeds in temperament and trainability.

“Many people who opt for the cloning technique are more interested in fashionable looks,” he said. “Whenever we breed dogs for looks and ignore behavior, we have suffered.”

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