- Title: ITALY: ITALIAN SCIENTISTS CREATE WORLD'S FIRST CLONED HORSE
- Date: 7th August 2003
- Summary: (W5) CREMONA, ITALY (AUGUST 7, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SV: CLONED HORSE PROMETEA BEING LED INTO STABLE WITH MOTHER STELLA COMETA 0.11 2. SV: UNCLONED HORSE WATCHING 0.14 3. SV: PROMETEA PLAYING WITH CLONED COW AND ENTERING HER STABLE 0.25 4. SCU/CU: PROMETEA SUCKLING MILK FROM MOTHER (2 SHOTS) 0.41 5. SV/CU: SCIENTIST, DOCTOR CESARE GALLI, FROM THE LABORATORY OF REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY STROKING PROMETEA AND MOTHER (2 SHOTS) 1.04 6. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR CESARE GALLI SAYING: "We chose the horse, because it is an animal in which, so far, no success has been achieved. By learning how to do it in different species, you learn all the mechanisms that might be involved and could give some insight for the model for human studies." 1.21 7. VARIOUS OF CLONED HORSE PROMETEA AND MOTHER EATING HAY (2 SHOTS) 1.33 8. SCU: SIGN READING 'CIZ - RESEARCH AND GENETICS' 1.37 9. VARIOUS OF CLONED HORSE PROMETEA IN STABLE (2 SHOTS) 1.48 10. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR CESARE GALLI SAYING: "We have to be smarter than the Americans, because we don't have the funding that, for instance, Texas or other states like Colorado have for researching into horses. We have to rely on our brains rather than on our funding because, as you know, in Italy science is at the bottom - the least of resources." 2.13 11. SV: CLONED HORSE PROMETEA IN STABLE WITH MOTHER 2.16 12. CU: CLONED HORSE PROMETEA 2.21 13. SV: CLONED HORSE PROMETEA WALKING TOWARDS CAMERA AND BREATHING INTO LENS 2.39 14. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR CESARE GALLI SAYING: "I don't think there will be an attempt to clone the perfect champion. I think there will be the option to clone gelding champions which make up about 50 per cent of the winning horses. There is an opportunity there, because these animals will never be able to contribute to their genes, to their breed and so, by cloning them, you will have an animal that can reproduce itself. It has also already demonstrated that the offsprings of clones are normal, so there is no doubt that it will be a safe and useful approach." 3.13 15. VARIOUS CLONED HORSE PROMETEA RUNNING FREE IN LABORATORY FIELD 3.36 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 22nd August 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CREMONA, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVA7RNIN6QMTPVFSU2S0D575KKJ4
- Story Text: Italian scientists have created the world's first
cloned horse.
Prometea, a healthy little foal, has made it into
the history books as the world's first cloned horse.
And, not only that, she is the first animal known to
have been carried and born by the mother from which she was
cloned.
Weighing in at 36 kg (80 lbs) she was born during a
natural delivery on May 28, 2003 in Italy after a normal,
full-term pregnancy.
"We chose the horse because it is an animal in which,
so far, no success has been achieved," said Doctor Cesare
Galli of the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology, a
non-profit research organisation in Cremona, Italy who
created Prometea.
"By learning how to do it in different species, you
learn all the mechanisms that might be involved and could
give some insight for the model for human studies," Galli
told Reuters at his laboratory in Cremona, northern Italy
on Thursday August 7).
Until now, it had been thought that a pregnancy would
depend on the mother's immune system recognising the foetus
as something different from itself.
Named after Prometheus who, in Greek mythology, was
punished for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to
humans, the foal was created through nuclear transfer --
the same technique used for Dolly the sheep, the world's
first cloned mammal.
Galli and his team removed a skin cell from the mother
and fused it to an egg from which the nucleus had been
removed.
After the activated egg was grown in the laboratory, it
was replaced in the horse from which it had been cloned.
Asked why the breakthrough had come in Italy, Galli
replied that the lack of funding for research in the
country seemed to stimulate their ideas when working.
"We have to be smarter than the Americans, because we
don't have the funding that, for instance, Texas or other
states like Colorado have for researching into horses. We
have to rely on our brains, rather than on our funding,
because - as you know - in Italy science is at the bottom
- the least of resources," Galli explained.
In addition to the scientific achievement, the cloning
of Prometea could lead to some changes in the horse racing
world, something that could send shockwaves through the
industry. "I don't think there will be an attempt to
clone the
perfect champion, but I think there will be the option to
clone gelding (castrated) champions which make up about 50
per cent of the winning horses," Galli added.
Thoroughbreds are often castrated in the interests of
selecting only top horses for the gene pool, or to alter
the animal's behaviour.
"There is an opportunity there, because these animals
(geldings) will never be able to contribute to their genes,
to their breed and so, by cloning them, you will have an
animal that can reproduce itself," he said.
(lh/crb)
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