A Beijing-based gene firm-Sinogene Biotechnology has successfully cloned a wild Arctic wolf for the first time in the world.
Key points
- The Arctic wolf, also known as the white wolf or polar wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the High Arctic tundra, in Canada’s northern Arctic Archipelago.
- The name of the cloned wolf is ‘Maya’.
- To create Maya, Sinogene used a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer – the same technique that was used to create the first-ever mammal clone, Dolly the sheep, in 1996.
- The donor cell of the wolf came from the skin sample of a wild female Arctic wolf and its oocyte was taken from a female dog.
- The scientists were able to create 85 such embryos, which were transferred into the uteri of seven beagles (a dog breed) – resulting in the birth of one healthy Arctic wolf, the newly cloned Maya.
- The dog was selected as the surrogate as it shares genetic ancestry with ancient wolves and hence, ensures success in cloning.
Species conservation through cloning
- It’s not the first time cloning technology has been used by conservation scientists.
- In Malaysia, scientists are hoping to use frozen tissues and cells to give birth to new rhinos using surrogate mothers.
- In late 2020, American scientists successfully cloned an endangered wild black-footed ferret, once thought to be globally extinct.
- A team in Australia is trying to edit cells from a marsupial to recreate its close relative, the extinct Tasmanian tiger.
- These efforts are growing as scientists around the world race to save endangered species, as the Earth nears what is widely considered to be its sixth mass extinction.
Somatic cell cloning
- Somatic cell cloning is a technique in which the nucleus (DNA) of a somatic cell is transferred into an enucleated metaphase-II oocyte for the generation of a new individual, genetically identical to the somatic cell donor.
- Somatic cells are the cells in the body other than sperm and egg cells (which are called germ cells).
- In humans, somatic cells are diploid, meaning they contain two sets of chromosomes, one inherited from each parent.
- DNA mutations in somatic cells can affect an individual, but they cannot be passed on to their offspring.
(Sources: Washington Post, US Genome and NCBI)
