JAPAN: Japanese researchers say they have made a breakthrough in preventing DNA degradation in cloned pigs

Record ID: 465615

  • Title: JAPAN: Japanese researchers say they have made a breakthrough in preventing DNA degradation in cloned pigs
  • Date: 2nd September 2007
  • Summary: (L!2) TOKYO, JAPAN (AUGUST 22, 2007) (REUTERS) PROFESSOR HIROSHI NAGASHIMA SITTING AT HIS DESK CLOSE UP OF MONITOR SHOWING FERTILIZED EGGS OF CLONED PIG (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) HIROSHI NAGASHIMA, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE AT MEIJI UNIVERSITY SAYING: "Our key to success, though yet to be validated, may be because we used stem cells taken from salivary gland of adult pig which have very flexible abilities. I think that could contribute to preventing DNA degradation." STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF FOURTH GENERATION OF CLONED PIGS (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) NAGASHIMA SAYING: "Pig and human being, from the biological and anatomical point of view, have a lot in common. So we could use their organs in human transplants sometime in the future."
  • Embargoed: 17th September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Environment / Natural World
  • Reuters ID: LVA7QXQFS8TBN5AOV0E0D8OX97EO
  • Story Text: Japanese researchers say they have made a breakthrough in preventing DNA degradation by successfully producing fourth generation cloned pigs.
    Japanese scientists at Meiji University claim to have cloned the world's first fourth generation of pigs. The birth of the three cloned piglets on July 23 could herald a new age in animal to human organ transplants. Although one piglet died at birth, two others survived.
    "Our key to success, though yet to be validated, may be because we used stem cells taken from salivary gland of adult pig which have very flexible abilities. I think that could contribute to preventing DNA degradation," said Hiroshi Nagashima, the researcher and professor of agriculture at Meiji University.
    Scientists expect to use the technology to produce organs suitable for transplant into humans as cloned pig can be bred quickly and whose organs are about the same size as human.
    "Pigs and human beings, from the biological and anatomical point of view, have a lot in common. So we could use their organs in human transplants sometime in the future," he said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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