BRAZIL: SCIENTISTS ARE SURPRISED WHEN THEIR ATTEMPT TO CLONE A COW RESULTS IN A CLONED BULL AFTER A LABORATORY MIX UP

Record ID: 862034

  • Title: BRAZIL: SCIENTISTS ARE SURPRISED WHEN THEIR ATTEMPT TO CLONE A COW RESULTS IN A CLONED BULL AFTER A LABORATORY MIX UP
  • Date: 30th April 2002
  • Summary: (L!1) RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (MAY 09, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRANKLIN RUMJANEK, GENETIC BIOLOGIST SAYING: "I do not discredit Brazilian scientists and I guess the people may be a little premature in announcing their results." VARIOUS OF SCIENTISTS WORKING IN LABORATORY (4 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUMJANEK SAYING: "We are very well ranked in terms of our technical capabilities, so, I guess that while cloning becomes an international issue I don't think that Brazil is going be badly off by comparison." VARIOUS OF SCIENTISTS WORKING IN LABORATORY (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 15th May 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SAO PAULO AND RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • City:
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Environment,Quirky,Science / Technology,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA8Q6FQ7F46C5ZCDSAUUL0L8TDV
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Brazilian scientists were surprised when their attempt to clone a cow resulted in a cloned bull calf because of a laboratory mix up in the University of Sao Paulo.
    Brazilian scientists confirmed that a bull calf born over the weekend was accidentally cloned as a result of a mix-up in the laboratory, the University of Sao Paulo said on Tuesday (April 30).
    Scientists in the university's cloning project were stunned when what they expected to be a cloned cow, born on a ranch in Southeast Brazil, turned out to be a bull calf. It was given the name Marcolindo USP.
    "The molecular make-up was checked and today, we are absolutely certain that we have an original clone from embryonic cells," chief of cloning for the university, Antonio Visintin, said.
    A different method was used in Brazil's first calf cloning. The calf Victoria was born in March 2001 after scientists in Brasilia successfully cloned her from embryonic cells.
    The University of Sao Paulo laboratory had intended to use cells taken from the ear of an adult cow as the genetic material to create its first three female embryos, two of which are currently gestating in receptor cows.
    But the laboratory also had cells from a male bovine fetus that were to be used in later cloning projects and DNA tests showed that Marcolindo possessed the same genetic identity as these fetus cells.
    Brazil is home to the world's largest commercial cattle herd of 170 million head.
    gg/pw
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