Dolly the Monkey: World Is One Step Closer to Human Cloning Thanks to China (Video)
Two monkeys, macaques, Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, have been cloned at a laboratory in China using the technique that produced Dolly the sheep.
See the details on Nexter.org.
First monkeys to be cloned
Meet the monkeys cloned for the first time in the world. However, the success of the experiment has two sides of the coin.
On the one hand, it’s quite useful for the studying of human diseases (cancers, metabolic and immune disorders). On the other one, it makes the humanity closer to the cloning of themselves, which evokes a number of ethical concerns.
“There are a lot of questions about primate biology that can be studied by having this additional model,” stated Qiang Sun of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience.
Zhong Zhong was born 8 weeks ago. Hua Hua is younger, it was born 6weeks ago. The name was selected not by accident, it’s Mandarin word for the Chinese people.
The monkeys are currently growing normally. There are more experiments to be conducted.
Source:Â CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
New DollyÂ
The way they cloned those monkeys is similar to the method used in creating Dolly the sheep 20 years ago at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh – Â somatic cell nuclear transfer technique (SCNT). That was the first mammal cloned in the world.
Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua are the first non-human primates cloned, that’s why they made a history as well.
Source:Â CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Source:Â CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Flaws of the experiment
The twin monkeys are the only successful result after 79 attempts. Other monkeys were cloned from a different type of cell and failed to survive.
Nevertheless, it’s quite a high result for such experiments.
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