ATHENS, Ga. — Scientists at the University of Georgia and
ProLinia, Inc., have produced the first calf ever cloned from
cells of a slaughtered cow.
The calf, delivered by Caesarian section at 11 a.m. April 22, is
alive and healthy today.
The breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize beef cattle
production. It can allow producers to select cells from the
highest quality meat, after it has been graded, to clone animals
to stock their herds.
‘Tremendous Implications’
“This research has tremendous implications for the livestock
industry,” said Mike Wanner, president of ProLinia, Inc., an
agricultural biotechnology company in Athens.
“Genetics represent the boundary of what an animal can
ultimately
become,” Wanner said. “Producers will be able to go into a
processing plant after the meat is graded, select the best beef
on the line and use those genetics to develop and improve their
herd.
“In a sense,” he said, “they will be able to see what kind of
quality beef they can produce before they make their
investment.”
‘Tool for Researchers
The process will also allow researchers to study the roles of
genetics and environment in beef production. The centuries-old
“nature-nurture” debate is being tested in the UGA
laboratories.
“Genetics plays a critical role in the ultimate quality of the
meat we eat,” said Steve Stice, professor and Georgia Research
Alliance Eminent Scholar in the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences. He’s also the chief scientific officer
at
ProLinia.
“Equally important are the animal husbandry practices used, like
the quality of feed provided,” Stice said.
Heritable Traits
“Some traits are more heritable than others,” he said. “We
believe that production and meat-quality traits like marbling
and
tenderness are readily passed on to an animal’s offspring and,
in
this case, the animal’s clone.
“This science will give us an opportunity to prove our
theories,”
he said. “And ultimately, ranchers and meat producers will be
given a tool to produce more consistent, higher-quality
meat.”
48 Hours After Slaughter
Genetic material for the clone was taken from the cow’s kidney
area, a part routinely left with the side of beef in processing,
about 48 hours after the cow had been slaughtered in a local
commercial facility.
The cells were processed for transport and cloned in a
UGA-ProLinia lab. The ProLinia scientific team, under the
direction of John Gibbons and Wash Respess, performed a similar
process with cells from the intercostal region (between the
ribs)
and cells from the end of the front leg.
Beef Processing Not
Disrupted
“It was important that we did not modify the processing of the
beef,” Wanner said. “We wanted to develop a procedure that had
little or no disruption to the meat processors’ routine.
“Processors don’t have the luxury of modifying their practice
after the beef receives a favorable grade,” he said. “We needed
to use cells from parts that remain with the saleable meat.”
KC for Kidney Cell
The female calf, named KC for “kidney cell,” is an
Angus-Hereford cross sometimes called a “Black Baldy.”
The surgical team that delivered the calf at the UGA College of
Veterinary Medicine was led by Fred Caldwell, DVM. Amelia
Woolums, DVM, led the UGA medical team that cared for the calf
after delivery.
Cloning Pioneer
Stice is one of the world’s leading cloning researchers. In the
summer of 2001, he and his ProLinia team pioneered a technique
that virtually tripled the success rate for calf cloning, from
one in 20 successful births to one in seven.
The results of that process were eight calves with an age
variance spanning eight months, all clones of a single cow. He
produced the first cloned transgenic calves in 1998 and holds
U.S. patents on cloning processes and animal embryonic stem
cells.
UGA Patent, ProLinia License
The technology developed for producing this cloned calf will be
patented by UGA and exclusively licensed by ProLinia. Sponsored
research and licensing agreements with the UGA Research
Foundation provide ProLinia (www.prolinia.com) access to
UGA’s state-of-the-art labs and demonstration production
facilities.
For more information about Stice, including animated
infographics
and downloadable photos related to this story, see www.uga.edu/news/stice.
For video/TV, contact Pete
Konenkamp at (706) 542-8080.
