RIGHTS: Africa’s First Cloned Mammal

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Yolandi Groenewald

JOHANNESBURG, May 9 2003 (IPS) - A South African veterinarian who helped clone a prized dairy cow, the first mammal cloned in Africa, says the technology might rescue the continent’s impoverished agricultural economy.

But the cost of cloning is still a major stumbling block in creating cloned champion animals commercially. Morne de la Rey, a veterinarian involved in the cloning of champion Holstein cow, says cloning of highly productive animals might secure Africa’s food security in the future. But he warns that much work needs to be done.

"At this stage the venture is not economically viable. Apart from the procedure being very expensive, it still has to be developed further," he says. "We have a long way to go and the procedure will have to be done again and again before we can even think of going with this to the market."

Danie Barry, a University of Stellenbosch agricultural scientist and veterinary surgeon who is an expert in embryology, says there are better ways to reproduce animals than by cloning.

"Instead of cloning the cow, superior semen from another bull could be used. Through artificial insemination the cow could then produce a superior calf," he says.

"The main advantage of cloning would be the replacement of endangered species. But even here the progeny derived from a DNA cell would have all the genetic faults of the donor animal, such as being prone to certain diseases. In nature it is best to have a range of DNA in a species," he says.

Barry says it was fantastic that an African team had produced a cloned animal. "We have the expertise in South Africa to do this kind of research. The team in Brits (a small town near Johannesburg) has done wonderful pioneering work. I think it is a wonderful breakthrough in genetics in Africa," he says.

The calf was named Futhi, meaning "gain" in Zulu.

The heifer was introduced to the world at its birthplace near Brits in North West province, about 80 kilometres north-west of Johannesburg, this week. De la Rey says he and his team wanted to show it was possible to clone an animal in Africa. The veterinarian and Robert Treadwell, a colleague at the Embryo Plus Centre and Artificial Insemination Centre at Brits, collaborated with Professor Gabor Vatja, an embryologist from the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences.

The Embryo Plus Centre has a worldwide reputation for its work in embryology and exports embryos of farm animals to overseas markets.

"It is quite an achievement for us because it was the first time we had attempted cloning, let alone Professor Vajta’s technique. We are lucky it was a success the first time round," says De la Rey.

Vajta’s technique is different from other cloning methods, such as that used with the first cloned animal Dolly the sheep in Scotland. The protective covering of the unfertilised egg is removed before the cloning process is begun. This makes the entire procedure more difficult, says De la Rey.

"We were lucky that the recipient cow did not reject the egg and instead carried it (the foetus) to term," says De la Rey.

Futhi was cloned from DNA taken from the ear of a nine-year-old Holstein cow that set the South African milk production record. The cow peaked at 78 litres of milk a day. The scientists at the Embryo Plus Centre believe that Futhi will be as productive.

The cell was inserted into a second cow’s egg, from which the DNA had been removed. The embryo was grown in a test tube for eight days before being transferred into a third cow, a Simmenthaler cross, which acted as the surrogate mother.

"The DNA of Futhi matches 100 percent with that of the cow from whose ear she originates," De la Rey says. He says the calf’s markings are the same as the donor mother’s, with slight variations because she came from another uterus.

On Apr. 19 De la Rey and his team performed a Caesarean section to ensure that nothing went wrong with the birth. Futhi is being suckled by a Jersey cow.

De La Rey says cloning animals holds no ethical dilemma for him. "We are not playing God, we are only taking the life that God gave to humans to reproduce new creatures. Only God can give life," he says.

The world’s first cloned animal – Dolly the sheep – died prematurely of a heart attack.

Barry says because the donor cells are taken from old donors such as that of Futhi’s ancestor, there is no way to know if you have taken a new cell or an old cell.

"The cells of old animals have already gone through their cell cycles. This may have an impact on the life cycle of the animal," he says. In Dolly’s case she died of a symptom that usually only occurs in elder animals.

But De La Rey says that technology is improving daily to improve cloning.

"The survival rate of cloned animals was at present lower than that of their ‘normal’ counterparts. That was the same with in-vitro technology at first," he says. "There is no reason to think that the calf will have a different life expectancy or ability to produce milk than her mother."

"One should take into account that cloning technology was now where in-vitro techniques were 20 years ago," he says.