Ferret becomes first North American endangered species to be cloned

[TaylorSwift 162,435]

US scientists have successfully cloned a highly-endangered black-footed ferret using DNA from an identical animal that has been frozen since 1988.

The birth of the ferret, named Elizabeth Ann, was announced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The cloning is a first for a US endangered species.

She was cloned from the DNA of an animal named Willa.

[GagaSine 7,464]

So interesting! I studied this a bit for a project in high school and it was really interesting, how they save DNA of extinct/endangered animals as well as experiment by adding the DNA to fertilize eggs from similar species to see if they could grow a new specimen. But this is big that they have now moved further than just fetal development like the experiments I read about.

[Kadikaado 4,302]

Good thing, I hope she is able to reproduce. I hope one day scientists can clone some brazilian animals near extinction.

[Economy 52,845]

How perfect is the DNA copy these days? I thought cloning had degenerative issues and a tendency for errors. Has that mostly been adressed now?

 

My only worry is what if it reproduces and mixes bad genetics or genetic errors with the few healthy ones around?

[littlepotter 76,610]

What a cutie!

[Kadikaado 4,302]

2 hours ago, Economy said:

How perfect is the DNA copy these days? I thought cloning had degenerative issues and a tendency for errors. Has that mostly been adressed now?

 

My only worry is what if it reproduces and mixes bad genetics or genetic errors with the few healthy ones around?

As far as I know Dolly's offspring didn't have genetic errors since germinative cells fix themselves, though I am not 100% sure.

[Economy 52,845]

12 minutes ago, Kadikaado said:

As far as I know Dolly's offspring didn't have genetic errors since germinative cells fix themselves, though I am not 100% sure.

Dolly the sheep? Didnt the clone die really young tho?

 

Do correct me if im remembering it wrong tho

[PunkTheFunk 125,703]

Her name makes her sound like a smalltown librarian

[Kadikaado 4,302]

20 hours ago, Economy said:

Dolly the sheep? Didnt the clone die really young tho?

 

Do correct me if im remembering it wrong tho

She lived long enough to have offspring a few times.

[Economy 52,845]

35 minutes ago, Kadikaado said:

She lived long enough to have offspring a few times.

Yeah but she died young and was not healthy...

 

Tho the health problems themselves were never proven to be a result of the cloning... the short life and the shorter telemers in the cells suggests the cloning process isnt perfect

 

So i dont care if dolly lived long enough to reach adulthood and have children as that only proves it works well enough that the clones dont die immediately... if the cloning process still has flaws tho this could still start genetic defects that will be passed down in an already endangered animal

 

Thats why im asking if those issues have been solved

[Kadikaado 4,302]

1 hour ago, Economy said:

Yeah but she died young and was not healthy...

 

Tho the health problems themselves were never proven to be a result of the cloning... the short life and the shorter telemers in the cells suggests the cloning process isnt perfect

 

So i dont care if dolly lived long enough to reach adulthood and have children as that only proves it works well enough that the clones dont die immediately... if the cloning process still has flaws tho this could still start genetic defects that will be passed down in an already endangered animal

 

Thats why im asking if those issues have been solved

 So, it seems it was fixed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_(sheep) her Wikipedia page tells that other cloned sheeps from the same cell lineage are healthy. Also Telomeres fix themselves when reproducing, it'd repaired, so her babies won't carry any problem.