 Prometea, the First Cloned Horse
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Aug. 7, 2003 — Italian scientists announced Wednesday they have succeeded in cloning a horse, raising the prospect of duplicating racing and show champions.
But the development, announced in the science journal Nature, was immediately denounced by two leading sporting organizations, the Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Breeders Association.
Researchers at the Reproductive Technology Laboratory in Cremona fused skin cells with horses' eggs from which they had removed the nuclei. They created nearly 850 embryos, of which only 22 reached the cell division stage.
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Four mares were impregnated, but three aborted. One produced a genetically identical copy of itself. The foal, born on May 28, was named Prometea and was said to be progressing normally.
The birth added to a list of animals that have been successfully cloned since Dolly the Sheep was born in Scotland in 1997, including mice, cattle, goats, rabbits, cats, pigs and recently, in the United States, a mule.
"In principle, cloning could enable gelding champions to contribute their genotype to future generations, as well as opening up an opportunity to verify the reproducibility of trains such as character and sporting performance," the Italian scientists said.
A gelding is a horse that has been castrated to improve certain performance characteristics, and which cannot be used for breeding.
Philip Freedman, chairman of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association, said the horse-cloning experiment was of "no value" to the racing community because a horse created by artificial insemination could not enter the stud books.
John Maxse of the Jockey Club said there was a consensus in the horse-racing community not to allow cloned horses.
"Sport should not be allowed to become a playground or amusement park for scientists," he said.
The Italian researchers are still trying to come to grips with one aspect of their research. DNA tests showed that the original skin cell line from which the cloned foal was produced came coincidentally from its own mother. In other words, the mare produced an identical twin without setting off an immunological warning that would normally produce an abortion.
Until now, clones have always been produced by using surrogate animals.
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Name: Domestic Horse (Equus caballus)
Primary Classification: Equidae (Horses) Location: Original populations occurred in central Asia. Habitat: Feral populations are found in temperate grassland, forest and rainforest. Diet: Feral animals eat grass; domesticated animals eat hay and grain. Size: Up to 1 ton in weight. Description: Highly variable coloration. Long neck supporting large head. Large eyes and ears. Long hair along neck and forehead. Deep chest. Barrel-shaped body. Long limbs. Solid hoof on each foot. Long-haired tail. Cool Facts: They can twist their long ears to locate sounds without having to move their bodies. Males curl their top lip in what's called the flehmen response, which heightens their sense of smell, allowing them to determine females' readiness for mating. Conservation Status: Domesticated |
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